tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57529054503723668922017-09-04T17:01:48.086-05:00Politics and Critical Thinking"In order to form a more perfect opinion."Michael Elliothttps://plus.google.com/114968196882213881255noreply@blogger.comBlogger536125PoliticsAndCriticalThinkinghttps://feedburner.google.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752905450372366892.post-5210257862288343492015-05-17T14:52:00.002-05:002015-05-17T14:57:26.138-05:00The Parasitic Class: Sharpton Father and Sharpton Daughter Unite <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.opposingviews.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/402x250/featured_image/0515/alsharptondominiquesharpton_featured.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://img.opposingviews.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/402x250/featured_image/0515/alsharptondominiquesharpton_featured.jpg" height="199" width="320" /></a></div><br />In need of more revenue streams, the Sharpton family resorted to what made them wealthy to begin: shaking down other folks. This time it's the city of New York, where <a href="http://www.memeorandum.com/150517/p12#a150517p12">Dominique Sharpton is asking for $5 million in personal damages</a>.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Shakedown artist Al Sharpton’s eldest child wants $5 million from city taxpayers after she fell in the street and sprained her ankle, court rec­ords show.&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Dominique Sharpton, 28, says she was “severely injured, bruised and wounded” when she stumbled over uneven pavement at the corner of Broome Street and Broadway downtown last year, according to a lawsuit.&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Currently on vacation in Bali, the membership director for her gadfly dad’s National Action Network claims she “still suffers and will continue to suffer for some time physical pain and bodily injuries,” according to the suit filed against the city departments of Transportation and Environmental Protection.&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">“I sprained my ankle real bad lol,” she wrote in a post to Instagram after the Oct. 2 fall.</blockquote>And just like the mooch that she is, she had the audacity to recently post <a href="http://www.weaselzippers.us/223842-shakedown-jr-al-sharptons-daughter-sues-nyc-for-5million-over-a-sprained-ankle/">pictures of herself hiking in Mali</a>. <b>*Warning, the picture involves a close up of her face</b>.<br /><br />Al Sharpton's wealth has been noted despite not ever holding a job except recently as a semi-coherent TV personality on the marginal MSNBC network. His wealth has come by shakedowns, handouts, law suits and threats. He's a professional victim, a parasitic hustler.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">The younger Sharpton is seeking the damages for “loss of quality of life, future pain and suffering, future medical bills, [and] future diminution of income,” according to court papers.</blockquote>So it's not surprising that daughter would take up the family business and resort to shaking down others in order to get the things in life that which they desire but otherwise would be unobtainable if left to their own efforts. Thus, a parasite.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PoliticsAndCriticalThinking/~4/CVziVdD6R70" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Jason Bradley http://www.blogger.com/profile/17708604340093935198noreply@blogger.com0http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-parasitic-class-sharpton-father-and.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752905450372366892.post-8163359802160379462015-05-17T14:17:00.000-05:002015-05-18T17:31:06.746-05:00Rethinking the So-Called Soviet 'Russian' Juggernaut <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://nl.media.rbth.ru/web/in-rbth/images/2015-04/big/16/1_7b9ab935_331new.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://nl.media.rbth.ru/web/in-rbth/images/2015-04/big/16/1_7b9ab935_331new.jpg" height="198" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Much has been written about Soviet dominance, both militarily and economically, during World War II. So goes once it was able to absorb the pummeling it took in the early rounds from Nazi Germany's blitzkrieg, she pulled herself up by her boot straps an sent forth legions of furious sons to fight. Moreover, to hear it told from many today "Soviet" has become synonymous with Russian. That is not the case, of course. The Soviet Empire, like any empire, was made up of many ethnicities and the multi-ethnic make up of the Soviet Red Army mirrored that of its society.&nbsp;</div><span id="fullpost"> </span><br /><div><br /></div><div>For example, consider this excerpt from "<a href="http://in.rbth.com/blogs/2015/05/12/how_russia_blunted_the_german_blitzkrieg_43057.html">How Russia blunted the German blitzkrieg</a>"</div><div><blockquote class="tr_bq">Eight out of 10 German soldiers killed during World War II died <b>fighting the Russians</b>. That is, <b>Russia</b> eliminated more than 6 million German soldiers [emphasis is mine].</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Now chew on this: between 1939 and 1941, the German blitzkrieg – or lightning war – defeated Poland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, France and the 380,000 soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force stationed in France. Hitler then unleashed the same blitzkrieg against Russia. On June 22, 1941 more than 200 Axis divisions, comprising two million men plunged into a front 3200 km broad. Yet by winter of that year the Red Army was lashing furious counterattacks that would make the besiegers the besieged.</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Russia won the most mechanised war in history because it was able to out-produce Germany in a war of economic attrition. Russian production outweighed that of Germany in virtually every war item – tanks, self-propelled guns, field guns, machine guns, mortars, combat aircraft, rifles, carbines. Only in shipbuilding did Soviet industry fail to compete.<br />More remarkable is the fact that the Russian advantage was at its greatest in 1942, writes military historian Arvo L. Vecamer&nbsp;<a href="http://www.feldgrau.com/econo.html" style="border: none; color: purple; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">writes</a>&nbsp;in&nbsp;<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">A Germany-Soviet Military-Economic Comparison</em>. “Just when its struggle against the Wehrmacht for the military advantage was at the most intense, the Red Army was receiving combat aircraft at twice the rate of delivery to the enemy, and 3 or 4 times the flow of most other types of ground forces’ armament. After 1942 the pace of German war production accelerated, but Germany’s context had already changed to one of commitments multiplying out of control and an inexorable unfolding of defeat.”</blockquote>The amount of dead Germans referenced by apologetic historians to elevate Soviet prowess falls flat. Remember that this is the same Soviet military that suffered from Stalin's debilitating purges during the 1930s and an embarrassing and costly invasion of Finland. The Finland army with only 200,000 fighting men, which 20 percent would die within three months, exposed the Red Army for what it was: an uncoordinated, badly led, poorly equipped and technologically inefficient behemoth.<br /><br />Returning back to the high German death totals reinforces the last point. The causality figures were so high (the Red Army suffered 10 to 14 million dead during this time) because of the repetitive and costly indecisive battles year after year on the Eastern Front. The Read Army could never seize the initiative and rout the German Wehrmacht, despite having superior numbers and closer supply lines.<br /><br />It is here where the common tails are told of Soviet economic resilience. How in wartime, the Soviet Union was able to rebuild entire industries and move others deeper east to safer areas, while fending off the German advance. There is some truth here but not nearly enough for it to stand on its own. Mostly, it has become myth.<br /><br />The truth is the Allies, led mostly by America, supplied and equipped the Red Army with materials and war machinery to help turn the tide in the East. The complete list of aid for the Soviets can be found <a href="https://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/pearl/www.geocities.com/Pentagon/6315/lend.html">here</a>. It included the following items:<br /><br />Trucks: 427,284<br />Tanks and Combat Vehicles: 13,303<br />Aircraft: 11,000<br />Bombers: 3,000<br />Anti-Aircraft Cannons: 8,000<br />Motorcycles: 35,170<br />Ordnance Service Vehicles: 2,328<br />Radar Systems: 400<br />Petroleum Products (gasoline and oil): 2,670,371 tons<br />Explosives: 300,000 tons<br />Field Radios: 40,000<br />Foodstuffs (canned meats, sugar, flour, salt, etc.): 4,478,116 tons<br />Locomotives &amp; Railway cars: 13,000.<br />Tommy Guns (fully automatic machine guns): 135,000<br />Metal Cutting Machine Tools: 400,000<br /><br />Consider this contrasting point from military historian Arvo L. Vecamer who writes:</div><div><blockquote class="tr_bq">Russia was the single most important factor in the defeat of Germany. “Germany essentially lost the Second World War on the Eastern Front” and the key to that loss can be directly attributed to the fact that Russia was able to supply its army with the needed materials while the German economic system could not.&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Russia had built up a much more effective and reliable economic infrastructure since the 1920’s when compared to the German economy. Vecamer explains it was more optimally geared for mass production of simple, yet reliable (military) goods and products. Throughout World War II, Russian military forces never really suffered from serious supply problems. Russian production centres continued to pour out what was needed on the front lines. But the Germans often suffered from supply shortages.</blockquote>On this point, the historian left out the fact that Allied cooperation freed the Soviet Empire from enormous strain, and, perhaps, even collapse. The West was weakening Nazi Germany militarily and economically at sea and air, and signaled the beginning of the end with Allied invasion of Europe, which set up the second front in the West.<br /><br />Moreover, Allied bombing had picked up the pace by 1943 and by 1944 and '45, Germany's industrial ability was unable to sustain a two-fronted, prolonged war. Not to mention, the unreasonable demands made on a dwindling German manpower that had to both produce and fight.<br /><br />The British nationalist A.K.Chesteron comments on Anthony C. Sutton’s study <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0817917918/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0817917918&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=alterright093-20&amp;linkId=L6UKKETE3M64DXSB">Western Technology and Soviet Economic Development, 1917 to 1930</a><img border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=alterright093-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0817917918" />:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"So far from Russia’s pulling herself up by her own boot-laces, as Communist propaganda would have us believe, almost all of the projects of the First Five Year Plan were designed by American companies. At least ninety-five percent of the industrial structure received Western assistance, the agreements to grant concessions having been reached by the Russian Congress of Councils of the National Economy as early as December 1917" (p 69-70)&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">"In the development of the Russian iron and steel industry, Britain’s huge Lena Goldfields Ltd. Obtained a concession to operate blast furnaces and steel works in the Urals, where a German firm, Bergman, was busy restoring metal plants and manufacturing heavy machinery, together with guns, shells, and small arms for export. Lena Goldfields also re-opened the pre-war Ridder mine complex for the production of lead-zinc. The powerful Deutsche Bank of Germany provided long-term loans. Bryner &amp; Company (U.K.) contributed to meet Soviet foreign exchange through the export of zinc concentrates and two years after the period covered by Sutton a smelter built by Lena produced thirty-four per cent of the total Russian output of zinc." (p 70-71)</blockquote>The Soviet Red Army was a worthy fighting force. No doubt patriotism ran high just as any side's would if invaded by a mortal enemy. However, Soviet contribution accounts for less than one-third of the total part of the Allied war machine against the Axis powers. And certainly, the "Russian" proportions is even less if taken as a single whole.<br /><br />The Soviet Empire was then, just as the Russian Empire was during World War I, a vast but backward army where it was time and again humiliated and perished into a communist revolution. If it were not for Allied cooperation the Eastern Front might have ended markedly different, and perhaps closer to Nazi design.<br /><br /><br /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PoliticsAndCriticalThinking/~4/JJ4rrv_Lie4" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Jason Bradley http://www.blogger.com/profile/17708604340093935198noreply@blogger.com0http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2015/05/rethinking-so-called-soviet-russian.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752905450372366892.post-30990315180645743282015-04-19T16:19:00.001-05:002015-04-19T16:20:23.949-05:00California's real drought....common sense.After a considerable hiatus brought on by personal commitments that could not be left unattended, I am happy to report PCT is back online. &nbsp;Our first episode will be an analysis provided by Joel Kotkin on the present California drought and how it might have been avoided, or at the least, alleviated <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/19/big-idea-california-is-so-over.html">through preparation</a>. Preparation which was dissuaded by the political outlook of the Golden State's Leftist hegemony. To whit the Golden State is no longer so golden....and that is a very unfortunate situation for everyone.<br /><div><br /></div><div></div><div><blockquote class="tr_bq">California has met the future, and it really doesn't work. As the mounting panic surrounding the drought suggests, the Golden State, once renowned for meeting human and geographic challenges, is losing its ability to cope with crises. As a result, the great American land of opportunity is devolving into something that resembles feudalism, a society dominated by rich and poor, with little opportunity for upward mobility for the state’s middle- and working classes.&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">The water situation reflects this breakdown in the starkest way. Everyone who follows California knew it was inevitable we would suffer a long-term drought. Most of the state—including the Bay Area as well as greater Los Angeles—is semi-arid, and could barely support more than a tiny fraction of its current population. California’s response to aridity has always been primarily an engineering one that followed the old Roman model of siphoning water from the high country to service cities and farms. [...]</blockquote><br /><br /><div>&nbsp;<span id="fullpost"> </span></div></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PoliticsAndCriticalThinking/~4/vAQ7bROoeIE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Michael Elliothttps://plus.google.com/114968196882213881255noreply@blogger.com0http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2015/04/californias-real-droughtcommon-sense.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752905450372366892.post-55112628574679682752015-02-22T14:34:00.002-06:002015-02-22T19:54:20.412-06:00Cognitive Bias: Bad Thinking and Bad Decision Making<div class="MsoNormal">Two things which fascinate me are the ways in which we logically or illogically argue and how our observations can succumb to certain biases. If you routinely study the styles of argumentation which people reason from and then reverse engineer their language, you start finding the fallacious thinking and bias that drives their outlooks. The best examples of when this is on parade are discussions concerning politics or religion, however, they also permeate the minutiae our daily conversations as well. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">What inspired this post was a very interesting article that appeared in the statistics blog fivethirtyeight.com written by Christie Aschwanden <a href="http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/your-brain-is-primed-to-reach-false-conclusions/">on cognitive bias</a>. &nbsp;Specifically the “illusion of causality” and how it pertains to the anti-vaccination movement. <o:p></o:p></div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><br />Paul Offit likes to tell a story about how his wife, pediatrician Bonnie Offit, was about to give a child a vaccination when the kid was struck by a seizure. Had she given the injection a minute sooner, Paul Offit says, it would surely have appeared as though the vaccine had caused the seizure and probably no study in the world would have convinced the parent otherwise. (The Offits have such studies at the ready — Paul is the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and author of<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Choices-Anti-Vaccine-Movement-Threatens/dp/0465021492">“Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All</a>.”) Indeed, famous anti-vaxxer Jenny McCarthy has said her son’s autism and seizures are linked to “<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/vaccines/interviews/mccarthy.html" target="_blank">so many shots</a>” because vaccinations preceded his symptoms…</blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Before we move on to some examples of how cognitive bias affects our daily lives let’s look at a quick definition and how it is different from fallacious argumentation. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">From <a href="http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases">Rational Wiki</a>,<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><b>Cognitive bias</b>&nbsp;describes the inherent thinking errors that&nbsp;<a href="http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Human" title="Human">humans</a>&nbsp;make in processing information. Some of these have been verified empirically in the field of&nbsp;<a href="http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Psychology" title="Psychology">psychology</a>, while others are considered general categories of&nbsp;<a href="http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Bias" title="Bias">bias</a>. These thinking errors prevent one from accurately understanding&nbsp;<a href="http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Reality" title="Reality">reality</a>, even when confronted with all the needed data and&nbsp;<a href="http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Evidence" title="Evidence">evidence</a>&nbsp;to form an accurate view. Many conflicts between&nbsp;<a href="http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Science" title="Science">science</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Religion" title="Religion">religion</a>&nbsp;are due to cognitive biases preventing people from coming to the same conclusions with the same evidence. Cognitive bias is intrinsic to human thought, and therefore any systematic system of acquiring&nbsp;<a href="http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Knowledge" title="Knowledge">knowledge</a>&nbsp;that attempts to describe reality must include mechanisms to control for bias or it is inherently invalid.</blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">How does <a href="http://psychology.about.com/od/cindex/fl/What-Is-a-Cognitive-Bias.htm">cognitive bias differ from logical fallacy</a>?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><blockquote class="tr_bq">People sometimes confuse cognitive biases with logical fallacies, but the two are not the same. A logical fallacy stems from and error in a logical argument, while a cognitive bias is rooted in thought processing errors often arising from problems with&nbsp;<a href="http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/a/memory.htm">memory</a>, attention, attribution, and other mental mistakes.</blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">As indicated cognitive bias and logical fallacies are not the same. However, I am personally “biased” towards the outlook that the two are related, in that one is our view and another is how we argue our view. This opinion is a personal reflection, not necessarily something which has been ostensibly proven or supported empirically. Subsequently you can consider this estimation “a priori.” &nbsp;<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />Further investigation into cognitive bias reveals there are upwards of fifty-eight different examples of cognitive bias…perhaps more. With all of that in mind here are a few examples of some which you might find familiar but have been completely unaware of.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Here are three which I see fairly routinely. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The first is what I like to call the “Facebook High-Life.” This is when someone enhances the quality of their life on their FB pages, or other digital mediums, without regards to the realities they are truly facing. This is known as the ‘<a href="http://www.beyondthepurchase.org/blog/10/the-self-enhancement-bias-or-how-i-ended-up-with-the-slap-chop/">Self-Enhancing Transmission Bias</a>.’ <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Another one that is a particular favorite of mine is “<a href="https://explorable.com/selective-perception">Selective Perception</a>” or when one views the world in accordance with their frame of reference. Two great examples of this are sports and at work. In the sports arena we might notice the referee’s penalizing our team but gaff off penalties for the opposing team. At work have you ever had a fellow employee who in your eyes as well as many others, is a total screw-up, but irrespective of this fact they remain the boss’s go to guy or gal? You are left to wonder why everyone else can see your fellow employee’s problems but not management. Well your boss may be suffering from the aforementioned bias. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projection_bias">Projection Bias</a> is the assumption that everyone around you shares your beliefs, outlooks, and viewpoints. This is common in political geographies when it is assumed by someone that everyone in their particular location is politically wired just as they are. Or in other words you are unconsciously projecting your values and positions on the population you live around. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I could go on and on…but I think we get the idea. Bias of any sort is difficult to avoid especially since most of it is unconscious. We are hardly aware of the glitches in our thinking and it is therefore difficult to compensate for. However, this doesn't mean it is impossible to overcome. Awareness is the first step to clear thinking and better decision making habits. &nbsp;<o:p></o:p></div><span id="fullpost"> </span><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PoliticsAndCriticalThinking/~4/YpInC-VuoTE" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Michael Elliothttps://plus.google.com/114968196882213881255noreply@blogger.com0http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2015/02/cognitive-bias-bad-thinking-and-bad.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752905450372366892.post-12425618582940830852015-02-18T19:15:00.001-06:002015-02-18T19:15:52.857-06:00Italy is worried about ISIS invasion.<b class="tr_bq">~History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme.</b><span id="fullpost"> </span><br /><div><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6ztNYGVoU4k/VOU5OAHT9lI/AAAAAAAACRE/ODFFFwdyovY/s1600/225px-MuslimMusiciansAtTheCourtOfRoger.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6ztNYGVoU4k/VOU5OAHT9lI/AAAAAAAACRE/ODFFFwdyovY/s1600/225px-MuslimMusiciansAtTheCourtOfRoger.JPG" height="200" width="131" /></a></div><div>Whether this little nugget comes to fruition or not it is mind-boggling that in the 21st century, Italy is worried about a mainland invasion from ISIS. This is not exactly a historically correct statement but its seems the Moors might be knocking on Italy's door once again.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>From the <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/17/italy-fears-isis-invasion-from-libya.html">Daily Beast</a>,</div><div><br /></div><blockquote>ROME — Last weekend in Italy, as the threat of ISIS in Libya hit home with a new video addressed to “the nation signed with the blood of the cross” and the warning, “we are south of Rome,” Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi shuttered the Italian embassy in Tripoli and raised his fist with the threat of impending military action. Never mind that Italy has only 5,000 troops available that are even close to deployable, according to the defense ministry. Or that the military budget was cut by 40 percent two years ago, which has kept the acquisition of 90 F-35 fighter jets hanging in the balance and left the country combat-challenged to lead any mission—especially one against an enemy like the Islamic State.&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote>In fact, Renzi didn’t specify exactly who would wield that military might, and, two days later, when no one volunteered to lead the charge, he backtracked. “It’s not the time for a military intervention,” Renzi told an Italian television station Monday night and said the United Nations had to lead the way. “Our proposal is to wait for the U.N. Security Council. The strength of the U.N. is decidedly superior to that of the radical militias....</blockquote><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PoliticsAndCriticalThinking/~4/G8fhsoCJNAc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Michael Elliothttps://plus.google.com/114968196882213881255noreply@blogger.com0http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2015/02/italy-is-worried-about-isis-invasion.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752905450372366892.post-30902525536614629972015-02-14T18:18:00.000-06:002015-02-14T18:27:03.989-06:00John Podesta tweets about UFO files. Ok...admittedly this is from the land of kooky and obscure but John Podesta, former Bill Clinton Chief of Staff and present Hillary Clinton campaign manager, yesterday sent out a strange tweet concerning UFO's.&nbsp;<span id="fullpost"> </span><br /><div><br /></div><div>From <a href="http://liberalvaluesblog.com/2015/02/14/john-podesta-believes-the-truth-is-out-there/">Liberal Values</a>,</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3YbEH13jbc4/VN_ihj-5bJI/AAAAAAAACQo/vyo2uCjCWYk/s1600/Podesta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3YbEH13jbc4/VN_ihj-5bJI/AAAAAAAACQo/vyo2uCjCWYk/s1600/Podesta.jpg" height="171" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Weird...lol!&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BCeoIk9ZFzM/VN_kbO84m0I/AAAAAAAACQ0/tOWAJIb0RO0/s1600/5cacc2665f8ffbf3d009d397a18cdfab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BCeoIk9ZFzM/VN_kbO84m0I/AAAAAAAACQ0/tOWAJIb0RO0/s1600/5cacc2665f8ffbf3d009d397a18cdfab.jpg" /></a></div><div>But I must admit....I share Podesta's infatuation with ET. This isn't to say that I go around chasing UFO reports or that I think the History Channel's Giorgio Tsoukalos--contributor to Ancient Aliens--is some sort of misunderstood genius. Just that this is something I am fascinated by and really, really really, hope is true! (Don't judge me damn it!)</div><div><br /></div><div>Also, and of course, the little tin-foil hat wearing conspiracy theorist in me does think it's strange when a former CoS to a President of the United States starts mentioning stuff about "disclosure of UFO files." But those kind of thoughts are best...ahem!...not mentioned any further.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>Sometimes it's just nice knowing that even people in positions of authority and distinction are just as strange and eccentric as the rest of us. And that obscure fascinations tend to more often than not transcend things like political differences.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PoliticsAndCriticalThinking/~4/9iLcaAc3s10" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Michael Elliothttps://plus.google.com/114968196882213881255noreply@blogger.com0http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2015/02/john-podesta-tweets-about-ufo-files.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752905450372366892.post-102107001844649672015-02-13T10:03:00.001-06:002015-02-13T10:03:46.275-06:00The Contradiction of Leftist Opinion: Scott Walker, Tom Cotton, et al<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OxA7iVZYW7Q/VN2AsdObXII/AAAAAAAACQY/-5RLK73C9Q8/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OxA7iVZYW7Q/VN2AsdObXII/AAAAAAAACQY/-5RLK73C9Q8/s1600/images.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>The liberal media complex is usually singular in its vision--agitprop. Push the meme, secure the front against argument, then debilitate opposing viewpoints with ridicule. A very to the point mechanical process that has been honed through years of practice and study.&nbsp;</div><div><span id="fullpost"> </span><br /><div><br /></div><div>But sometimes the meme's get tangled and the realism of their untruth reveal the true intentions of its propagators.<br /><br />One one side, Governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker is a blooming idiot and doesn't deserve to even be thought of as Presidential material since he doesn't possess...gasp!...<a href="http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein/2015/02/12/howard-dean-scott-walker-unknowledgeable-because-no-college-degree">a college degree</a>!<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">What a snob! On today's Morning Joe, Howard Dean, a product of fancy prep schools and Yale, suggested that Scott Walker was unfit to be president because his lack of a college degree rendered him "unknowledgeable."&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Dean's disdain for the un-diplomaed came during a discussion of Walker having declined, during his recent trip to the UK, to state whether he believes in evolution. Joe Scarborough was incredulous at Dean's diss, pointing out that people such as Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg never finished college. To which list could be added super-successful and knowledgeable people from Rush Limbaugh to Steve Jobs, among many others...</blockquote></div><div><br />On the other side of the coin is Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/02/12/sarah_palin_with_a_harvard_degree_why_new_senator_tom_cotton_is_so_frightening/">Here is the latest </a>from the National Inquirer of Liberal political rags, Salon, by a useless opinionator whose scribble is perfectly suited for such an environment, Heather Digby.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px;">Tom Cotton is Ted Cruz with a war record, Sarah Palin with a Harvard degree, Chris Christie with a Southern accent — a force to be reckoned with. He may sound like he’s speaking gibberish to you or to me when he asks why there were no prisoners in Guantánamo before the prison existed, but to the Republican base he’s speaking their language as clear as day and it will fit nicely on a bumper sticker: “Let ‘em rot.”</span></blockquote>The utter hilarity of the Left's dualistic &nbsp;thought processes and contradicting dumbfuckery is on full parade here. One man is to "unknowlegable" to arrive to any station higher than the one he has already achieved. The other, educated in one of the highest bastions of Liberal thought, Harvard Law--the same law program which our President graduated from--and a successful member of the US armed force and he speaks "gibberish." &nbsp;<br /><br />Their high crime? Both are real time threats to the Liberal power base. Moreover, either they are in the process of developing a more in depth and meaningful record or they have already succeeded. Additionally and more importantly, they are both Republicans.<br /><br />As you wade through the ridiculousness you can see that either you are to dumb, because of a lack of a college degree, or you are to stupid, even if you attended a Liberal institute of higher education. However, I might add the real issue here &nbsp;isn't education or the lack of; the main problem is not following the Leftist orthodoxy and/or successfully combating it. For that you must be punished, minimized, and thus eradicated.&nbsp;</div></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PoliticsAndCriticalThinking/~4/l8T-UMa2Rt8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Michael Elliothttps://plus.google.com/114968196882213881255noreply@blogger.com0http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-contradiction-of-leftist-opinion.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752905450372366892.post-52234174928893708692015-02-12T21:25:00.000-06:002015-02-12T21:59:37.690-06:00The Post-Truth Perception of the Political LiberalSometimes you have to question contemporary knowledge&nbsp;about our history and past. When we get so wrapped around ideology and start to warp historical facts and truth in order to sustain our own context and perspective of our world, the truth becomes non-existent. From then on we live in a world that is simply pure abstraction and no longer real.<br /><div><br /></div><div>Case in point a few days ago, &nbsp;Lawyer, Guns, and Money contributor, Eric Loomis's <a href="http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2015/02/stupid-dishonest">observed that </a>Fox News contributor, Tucker Carlson, is either "the dumbest person in the United States" or "maybe he is just dishonest."<br /><div><br /></div><div>The reason Loomis is so upset? Because Tucker Carlson--while hosting a Fox News show recently--said this, <span style="font-family: inherit;">“Christianity is the reason we don’t have slavery in the world today,” he added. “I mean, talk about ahistorical.” Carlson's commentary was in reference to the President's&nbsp;</span>controversial statements he made at this year's National Prayer Breakfast.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now I am not a particularly religious person, but I have respect for the good, the bad, and the ugly which religions of all denominations have provided society with. History is wrought with religion's successes and altruism's as well as its abysmal failures and inhumanity.&nbsp;However, religion, particularly Christianity, seems to be the&nbsp;favored target&nbsp;of the secular Left.&nbsp;Many of their&nbsp;attacks are usually based in ignorance and hyperbole that has become so entrenched in stereotyping it becomes reality. Despite facts stating otherwise.<br /><br />But why? Well...a good bit of it is political and some philosophical. Since the 70's the so-called Religious Right has become a formidable political bloc and by its philosophical design, a natural enemy to the Left's shallow interpretations of the world. Mainly on two points, &nbsp;<a href="http://ffrf.org/outreach/item/16916-abortion-why-the-religious-right-is-wrong">abortion</a>&nbsp;and more recently, <a href="http://www.religiousrightwatch.com/2014/10/christian-right-undermines-marriage-equality-with-religious-supremacism-lgbtq-nation.html">gay marriage</a>. Therefore for these reasons Christianity is not only to be opposed...but destroyed, at any opportunity.<br /><br />The greatest absurdity that the modern American Left suffers from is that their progressive influences, in part, stem from the <a href="http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/twenty/tkeyinfo/socgospel.htm">social gospel movement</a> of the late 19th century. People such as&nbsp;Walter Rauschenbusch and Washington Gladden--Protestant ministers --advocated for such items as the unionization of American workers, minimum wages, child labor laws, etc. Even the stalwart Progressive hero, William Jennings Bryan was a devout Presbyter whose religiosity greatly influenced his social outlook versus some of the modernist progressives of his day. <br /><br />Another paradoxical point to ponder is the Left's collective thought that Christianity was causative in the rise of the slavery epidemic which infected the American South. When in fact, opposition to slavery and the Abolitionist movement had its roots to the "Second Great Awakening" (SGA). In short many people in the late 1700's America, contrary to popular belief, rarely attended church. They instead replaced traditional worship with revivals which served as not only ritual devotions but "social meetings" between neighbors.<br /><br />Subsequently,these revival movements were causal in the formation of Christian reform groups whom opposed slavery on theological and moral grounds. &nbsp;See the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.oberlinheritagecenter.org/blog/tag/american-and-foreign-anti-slavery-society/">American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society</a>. Now...this isn't to say there weren't others who opposed slavery on more than just Christian values, however, there is no doubt that religiosity played a pertinent role for many abolitionists and anti-slavery movements of the early and mid 1800's.<br /><br />Finally, revisionism is a hallmark of the the modern American Left. This is induced by the &nbsp;Liberal's world of anxiety in which they perceive their political legitimacy under constant threat from any oppositional thought they face.Their media and marketing constructs are selling a bill of goods which is sadly distorted and designed to produce an outcome that will ensure their authority to which they feel entitled.<br /><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PoliticsAndCriticalThinking/~4/K7kGDFZxtZA" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Michael Elliothttps://plus.google.com/114968196882213881255noreply@blogger.com0http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-post-truth-perception-of-political.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752905450372366892.post-48411200929783734262015-02-08T00:57:00.000-06:002015-02-08T00:57:29.778-06:00Tu quoque, Barack, tu quoque?!?!?!<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Within the world of politics, especially in Presidential politics, every move, every word, every action is a setup for scrutiny or condemnation from detractors. The significant amount of the opinions expressed by critics of Presidents are usually mundane low-brow expressions which are made more for personal gain or as an attempt to validate the critic’s existence than legitimate fault finding. So is the case with the examination of the President’s commentary at the annual National Prayer Breakfast this week.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Here are the President’s remarks which got so many noses out of joints. &nbsp;&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 5pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.</span></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">What the President is referencing here is that American’s shouldn't judge the Muslim community as a whole because of the deplorable violence wrought by ISIS. And that as a nation we should remember that our own majority faith, Christianity, has its own long dark history of violence and appalling actions to contend with. Accordingly it is not only wrong, it is factually incorrect to refer to ISIS as "Muslim Extremists."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Now before you think that this is a defense of the President’s commentary or that I am in agreement please…think again. His sophomoric and banal attempt to remind us about ethical standards of judgment is anything but coherent or lucid. On the historical front most of the “facts” as presented by Mr. Obama are anything but actualities. My problem is that most of the criticism of the President's remarks have been in the wrong vein, elucidate the critic's lack of &nbsp;knowledge on historical events and their context, and they combat the Left's sophistry with crude rhetoric. &nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But why worry about all of this and these inane and fallacious comments? Is it really that surprising that Mr. Obama would make comments like these considering his background and the philosophy he admittedly adheres to? The answer is no, I am not worried nor upset about anything he has said. However, this is a truly teachable moment and provides great insight to the style of argumentation which the Left tends to employ in its overall strategy. And why I am highlighting it.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">What The President is doing is invoking the informal logical fallacy of '<b>Tu quoque</b>' or translated as 'you too'. In other words you discredit your opponent's argument by asserting they have engaged in the same behavior or acted inconsistently in reference to the point which they are defending or making. Subsequently, this method does nothing to address your opponent's position except reject it, not argue against it in logical practice.&nbsp; For you visual learners here is the argumentative structure provided by <a href="http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Tu_quoque">RationalWiki</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Person A makes claim X about Person B.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Person B points out that claim X is also true of Person A.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Therefore, X is irrelevant/false and A is a hypocrite.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">To combat this you have one of two choices. The first is showing that the argument is unsound or that the two premise don’t lead to the conclusion being drawn. The second is that one of the premise being presented is patently false. Meaning if a premise is shown to be inaccurate then invariably the deduction is incorrect. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Take the Crusades for example. Anyone who has a modicum of knowledge about this time understands that there were two centuries worth of historical context which led to the Church launching its forces into the Middle East. Islamic expansionism against Western Europe and the Byzantine Empire, see the Seljuk Turks, made this necessary and unavoidable. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Do I fault the Muslim states for trying to conquer Western Europe? No…I do not. They were doing what empires do and the Western Church—the only unifying agent in Europe at the time--was doing what it had to do to ensure its survival and expansion. Certainly both sides were as much victims as they were perpetrators. However, this doesn’t fit into Mr. Obama’s narrative. You could also go on about the Inquisition, slavery, and Jim Crow and show these premises to be faulty and hollow as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The takeaway here is once you understand the structure of the argument being used against you, then you can combat it effectively.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PoliticsAndCriticalThinking/~4/IkKl-UY2S4Y" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Michael Elliothttps://plus.google.com/114968196882213881255noreply@blogger.com0http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2015/02/tu-quoque-barack-tu-quoque.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752905450372366892.post-14429491620455389952015-02-02T23:20:00.000-06:002015-02-02T23:20:02.361-06:00Rand Paul and Anti-Vaccinations <span id="docs-internal-guid-5745d17e-4ddf-2b4f-0be0-8f98fc4694dd"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You can color me astounded! Never in million years would I have believed that the “Anti-Vaxer” movement might gain a life of its own and actually be something that could shape the political landscape of the 2016 Presidential contest. &nbsp;But...it looks like that might be what is happening. </span></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Senator Rand Paul has </span><a href="http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/231501-rand-paul-the-state-doesnt-own-your-children" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">weighed in</span></a><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> on the issue of compulsory vaccinations. From his viewpoint vaccinations can leave children with </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&nbsp;"profound mental disorders" and that mandatory immunization is an example of “government overreach.” New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie also stated that parents should ““have a "choice" in the matter but that ultimately "there is no question kids should be vaccinated."”</span></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Back in October of last year I <a href="http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2014/10/is-political-left-becoming-anti-science.html">followed up a report</a> appearing in Real Clear Science about the anti-vaxxer’s political composite. In terms of this philosophies origins, it can be rudimentarily established it’s beginnings lie in the Western US with far-left liberals and libertarians. Some of the anti-vaxxer states, as indicated in the RCS article, appear in red territories known for their libertarian bent and the more hyper-liberal fever swamps on the Left Coast. On the other end of the spectrum the predominantly better vaccinated states are more traditionally Conservative enclaves and with some East Coast liberal bastions thrown in there. </span></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">On the political end though I guess it shouldn’t surprise anyone that vaccinating your kids is a growing issue since measles, a disease once thought damn near eradicated, &nbsp;is making a comeback. All through the due diligence of some irresponsible pseudo-science loving conspiracy nuts. &nbsp;The issue is rightfully gaining political traction and demanding that politicians and candidates weigh in on it. </span></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My personal prediction is this donkey will soundly be &nbsp;hung around Paul’s neck as an indicator of his "libertarian induced insanity." Much like his father...he has you in his grasp, making perfect sense, until that one little issue pops up that makes him go off the deep end. Losing you forever... </span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span><span id="fullpost"> </span><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PoliticsAndCriticalThinking/~4/GPtpxUnfrVc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Michael Elliothttps://plus.google.com/114968196882213881255noreply@blogger.com0http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2015/02/rand-paul-and-anti-vaccinations.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752905450372366892.post-88366303632017491502015-01-12T18:44:00.004-06:002015-01-12T21:59:02.929-06:00USA Absent in Paris--World Unleashes Hashtag Hell<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://timedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/paris-sunday-march-charlie-hebdo-9.jpg?quality=80&amp;w=1100" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://timedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/paris-sunday-march-charlie-hebdo-9.jpg?quality=80&amp;w=1100" height="228" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>President Obama (and his administration) is facing establishment backlash for not attending Paris's unity &nbsp;or solidarity or whatever rally. I have my own thoughts on the matter, which I will share later in this post.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Mainstream Establishment Point of View</b></div><div><br /></div><div>As for Obama, being the president of the United States, which by default makes him the leader of the free world (whatever the hell that means today), I suppose he should have attended the march of hugs and kisses (I just came up with that) or at the least sent Sec. of State Kerry <strike>or Vice President Joe Biden</strike>. After all, when one Western democracy marches I suppose the rest have to follow suit. I mean, those are the rule, right?</div><div><br /></div><div>For reasons unknown, President Obama decided not to attend nor send anyone in his stead. Bad PR move on Barry's part. The <a href="http://www.memeorandum.com/150111/p36#a150111p36">world took notice</a> and the world said the US doesn't care and launched hashtag hell.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>See what the "world" had to say</div><div><ul><li>Firedog Lake |&nbsp;<a href="http://news.firedoglake.com/2015/01/12/obama-facing-criticism-for-not-showing-up-at-paris-unity-rally/">Obama Facing Criticism For Not Showing Up At Paris Unity Rally</a></li><li>Hinterland Gazzette |&nbsp;<a href="http://hinterlandgazette.com/2015/01/president-obama-really-snub-france-no-show-rally.html">Did President Obama Really Snub France by Being a No-Show at Rally?</a></li><li>Neo-neocon |&nbsp;<a href="http://neoneocon.com/2015/01/12/obamas-non-solidarity/">Obama's non-solidarity</a></li></ul><div>Bottom line, "Look man, <a href="http://time.com/3663623/obama-not-at-paris-terror-march-ted-cruz/">he should have been there</a>. I mean he had to. It was about solidarity and you can't have solidarity without being solid and stuff."</div><div><br /></div><div>Now hear comes my favorite part.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Dissident Reactionary Right Point of View</b></div></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>The march is as useless as it is pathetic. What exactly this proves as point to terrorism is over this dissident's head. The bad guys kill a few here and there, have a lot of fun doing it, watch the news coverage as if it were the Super Bowl and get back to work finding more Westerners in need of kill'in.<br /><br />Meanwhile, we are supposed to show solidarity in this?</div><div><br /></div><div>This march is nothing more than an orchestrated and calculated ploy to reinforce the Narrative. The narrative being "hey move along, turn your eyes away from your slain brethren, we really can live together. Multiculturalism and mass third world Islamic immigration will work. Trust us."</div><div><br /></div><div>And the free speech line? Paalease. European states routinely (Great Britain, especially so) throw in jail any native who even whispers something insensitive against homosexuality or Islam. True to Western ways, free speech is only a right when it is directed toward the West itself. The more hateful and venomous, the more of a right it becomes. &nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>You see, if one was paying attention one would know the elite were in danger of losing this Narrative. After the mayhem the only thing our Western leaders <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=7&amp;ved=0CEgQFjAG&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fnewsbusters.org%2Fblogs%2Fscott-whitlock%2F2015%2F01%2F08%2Fmsnbc-again-frets-over-far-right-european-response-shooting&amp;ei=Q160VOSAB8rYggS4uoGQAQ&amp;usg=AFQjCNENaCrgQ_wnUL3sBuB3sZZjULRlWw&amp;sig2=LV4_8yZzTEZVUr6Ki61-fA&amp;bvm=bv.83339334,d.eXY">considered as a consequence</a>&nbsp;from the killings was how Marine Le Pen's National Front party <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;ved=0CB8QqQIwAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newyorker.com%2Fnews%2Fnews-desk%2Fle-pens-moment&amp;ei=9F20VNW1EsmxggS9voKgDg&amp;usg=AFQjCNHBLT3ufLr9eD8_BWHjeGVxQIGH-Q&amp;sig2=D6tzejsOvsoH6JPN34B0TQ&amp;bvm=bv.83339334,d.eXY">would benefit</a>. That should tell you all you need to know about the sincerity behind this march.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>Never mind the fact that Le Pen was already ahead of her challengers in France before the attacks. In fact, her party's ideas are increasingly mainstream in France. The media hasn't accepted that fact and so continue to label her and her party "extremist" and "far right." That you can expect to reach fever pitch as panic sets in.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>And so, by sticking to the Narrative, Le Pen was <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/a4bf51a2-9a54-11e4-8426-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3Oegjokub">not invited to the solidarity march</a>. Somehow, in spite of her popularity, in spite of her willingness (more like the cause of) to speak out against the very thing that had all these Western silly hearts marching in the first place, that being imported Islamic terrorism; she and her party have no role to play in the Narrative. So much for solidarity.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>And this is how the Narrative is won. The elites act quickly. Smear the blood of the victims on their face, hold hands, walk shoulder to shoulder, and promise solidarity, unity or something. This manufactured outburst and compassion clouds the mind for judgement and makes people reluctant to point fingers. The Western mind is captured by a feel good, guilt stricken Narrative that has paralyzed the entire damn population.&nbsp;</div><br />The enforcers, the progressive sociopaths in constant attention-seeking form who want to get the same sympathy as the victims, (best illustrated in the <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=2&amp;ved=0CCUQFjAB&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fhumanevents.com%2F2014%2F12%2F19%2Fanother-media-too-good-to-check-fail-the-illridewithyou-hoax%2F&amp;ei=z2W0VJP0LoyhNoz_gogN&amp;usg=AFQjCNFhJjs3HmFBBOWtQRARioJSVxPQyQ&amp;sig2=0jod5t423w_LvjhjMmL7yw&amp;bvm=bv.83339334,d.eXY">#illridewithyou lie</a>) will make sure no detractor dare raise his head.<br /><br /><div>The state organs supply the feel good ointment of diversity. The tropes of so-called Western ideals and convince them to rally in defense of the thing that is killing them!&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>Whatever is left of Western Civilization, even the sewer that we call our pop culture, is all that we have. At least that is worth defending rather than having a Narrative, determined by the elite class,&nbsp;provide meaning to our lives and relegate us to a resource to be used in a system that is opposed to our Identity and existence.&nbsp;</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PoliticsAndCriticalThinking/~4/afzNgcfSWRo" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Jason Bradley http://www.blogger.com/profile/17708604340093935198noreply@blogger.com0http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2015/01/usa-absent-in-paris-world-unleashes.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752905450372366892.post-28145835391366581472015-01-11T22:04:00.001-06:002015-01-11T22:12:11.918-06:00Was Marx Wrong About Communism But Right About Capitalism?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.philosophersguild.com/images/P/0233_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.philosophersguild.com/images/P/0233_l.jpg" height="320" width="288" /></a></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gilpin’s useful and readable piece on the “Three Ideologies of Political Economy” describes the Marxist view (385 and 398) as:</span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /><div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[In the overall corpus of Marxist writings, there are four essential elements.] The first element is the dialectical approach to knowledge and society that defines the nature of reality as dynamic and conflictual . . . The second element is a material approach to history; the development of productive forces and economic activities is central to historical change . . . The third is a general view of capitalist development; the capitalist mode of production and its destiny are governed by a set of “economic laws of motion of modern society.” The fourth is a normative commitment to socialism . . . [Yet the] principal weakness of Marxism as a theory of international political economy results from its failure to appreciate the role of political and strategic factors in international relations.</span></blockquote><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is in this context above that the further refines the idea of radicalism and how dependency theory is a natural extension of the original economic and socio-economic ideas of Marx grow.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To summarize, for Marxists the international system is economically determined and hasn’t been changed by the end of the cold war. Think of three concentric circles: core, semi-periphery, and periphery. At the core are the post-industrialized nations, the subjugators; at the semi-periphery and periphery are the emerging states, sometimes called the developing world, and the perpetual “basket cases” or failed and failing states—these regions and identities constitute the subjugated.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What we have then is an economically determined hierarchy. Is this a useful way to view the structure of the international system? For Marxist analysts, the divide between core and periphery is the fault line of the international system.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/the-next-big-thinker-1287371.html">Cassidy suggests</a>, is Marx indeed “The Next Thinker”? Why would an investment banker say that “The longer I spend on Wall Street, the more convinced I am that Marx was right”?&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Was Marx right? Should we continue to take Marx and Marxism/neo-Marxism seriously? Is “economics the driving force in human history”? Is history the history of class struggle? Is the fundamental divide in society between those who own the means of production and those “whose only asset is their capacity for work”? What does class struggle look like on the international level? Is it possible that Marx was wrong about communism but right about capitalism? Has anyone since better understood the dynamics of capitalism? Does capitalism always tend toward monopoly, as Marx argued? Where does power lie in a capitalist society?&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Consider this provocative statement by Marx: “The executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the bourgeoisie.”&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The financialization of capitalism—the shift in gravity of economic activity from production to finance—raises the question: has capitalism entered a new stage? Financialization has resulted in a new monopoly stage of capitalism where capital is trapped or&nbsp;pin balled between stagnation, booms and financial meltdowns.</span><br /><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 10.5px;"><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In an age of corporate scandals, Wall Street "deals" and "fixes" &nbsp;and real power is held by only a few, Marxists would only confirm their long-held views.</span></div></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PoliticsAndCriticalThinking/~4/Tflo3phR-DU" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Jason Bradley http://www.blogger.com/profile/17708604340093935198noreply@blogger.com0http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2015/01/was-marx-wrong-about-communism-but.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752905450372366892.post-55795458770761950782015-01-11T11:46:00.000-06:002015-01-11T11:56:42.057-06:00GDP Uber Alles & the Unsustainability Factor, Part II<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2008/04/03/dd5ec5e2-a642-11e2-a3f0-029118418759/thumbnail/620x350/1a4ffdaa711d0a610ffec93528584c18/image3992978x.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2008/04/03/dd5ec5e2-a642-11e2-a3f0-029118418759/thumbnail/620x350/1a4ffdaa711d0a610ffec93528584c18/image3992978x.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Globalist and free traders often assume as set of facts exists and then proselytize those assumed facts to first world economies that unfettered trade in goods and services and free movement of capital, technology and ideas are givens in the world’s globalized economy. The failure to assume these facts they warn, will lead to less production, less prosperity, and overall socioeconomic decline. It is here in part II that an economic alterative is proven as plausible. In fact, we will see how first world economies are indeed exploring economic alternative to unfettered trade and economic outsourcing. This reversal will have profound implications for the global economy.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />It was in part I (<a href="http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2014/12/gdp-uber-alles-unsustainability.html">here</a>) that I expounded on and criticized America’s existing suicidal free trade policies.&nbsp;</span><br /><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />A summary of part I: American businesses outsource Americans jobs to save a few dollars on the cost of production over a period of time. They can send the parts to India, China, or any other country overseas and get labor rates that reflect the level of success in that country, which allows them to then save more money and put more in their pockets. Moreover, companies aren’t outsourcing to help the business. They’re doing it to increase their own profits and make more money for themselves.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Outsourcing is nothing new. It has been around for centuries, and has always allowed for businesses to save money while helping to create jobs. However, it was never intended to completely replace the jobs of people who were already getting things done, and has had a detrimental impact on the domestic, micro-level economy because of its use in this manner.<br />In a time when jobs are already scarce, the economy shaky, many companies will immediately find a way to run their business smarter, faster, or cheaper.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">All of these three things eventually lead to outsourcing, because someone else, somewhere in the world, is willing to work harder for less money than the American employee.&nbsp;This is great for business because it saves money and helps businesses succeed, but it is terrible for the American citizens who rely on these jobs to live their daily lives in peace and security.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />A similar Wall Street Journal report last April found that America’s largest multinational corporations&nbsp;<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/04/19/159555/us-corporations-outsourced-americans/">outsourced more than 2.4 million jobs</a>&nbsp;over the last decade, even as they cut their overall workforces by 2.9 million.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />The top reason for companies to outsource was to “<a href="http://www.conference-board.org/pdf_free/TCB_CK-009_StratOutsourcing.pdf">reduce operating costs</a>” (46 percent of respondents). Only 12 percent of respondents said their reason for outsourcing was “access to world class capabilities.” This means companies are outsourcing to save themselves money, not make better products.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><b>In Search of a (New) New Trade Theory</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Almost all new groundbreaking products and designs were initially made in America. Because the size of the American market it was worth producers to find ways to lower costs and produce more of the product. We once had a monopoly on everything from cars, steel, and computers, to now high-tech design software and products (with commercial and military application) As a result,&nbsp;<a href="http://buchanan.org/blog/pjb-how-to-bring-manufacturing-back-home-109">America has been the most self-sufficient republic in history</a>.<br /><br />So why has the US been sheading jobs, closing factories and putting to pasture entire industries? (As it stands now, American car manufactures are fighting for their lives). The answer is ideology and free traders decided to “fix” what wasn’t broken.<br /><br />Over time it was decided by&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rieti.go.jp/en/columns/a01_0202.html">the gurus of trade</a>&nbsp;that it would be beneficial to outsource production to other countries and import the products once made here, back to the US. This doesn't mean that the US lost its ability to produce the product; rather it was stripped of its ability to do so.<br /><br />The reasoning behind this was that in the meantime, US producers would find newer products to introduce into the American market. Those who lost their jobs from outsourcing could simply pick up and become a cog in the production of newer products.<br /><br />Then after they have successfully done this, the rug would be jerked out from under the poor peasants again…then the product life cycle is repeated. Of course this is not what at all happened. Entire communities were decimated. Old steel towns and mining communities are faded memories; nothing now but Norman Rockwell paintings. The people? American employment has suffered a net loss since the 1970s.<br /><br />Instead we have received “diminishing returns.” That’s economic-speak for someone got screwed. The outsourcing did not produce a net gain for the American worker. It has lowered real rage rates, and mass illegal immigration and other kinds, has accelerated income inequality. Most American jobs now go to immigrants.<br /><br />Specifically mentioned is the phenomenon of outsourcing tech-savvy jobs that were once secure in America. The ease of flow of information and communications along with a growing number of educated and technically skilled populations in countries like China and India, could pose a threat to high skilled workers.<br />That's right. Even the the top earners, the ground breakers are not safe from the "fix'n.<br /><br />If the labor market expands in India and more American businesses seek out the abundance of labor at lower costs, the labor market in American contracts.<br /><br />In other words, rapid advances in productivity of foreign labor due to better education lowers wages in the US, and raises sector unemployment. These factors are enough to outweigh the positive benefits of international trade for America.<br /><br />Free traders and the globalist who finance them have never denied there will be losers and hardships. However, the gains made by free trade outweigh the losses. They’ll point to rising GDP as a result, yet never consider falling wages, a stubborn unemployment rate and growing welfare numbers.<br /><br />They presume the jobs lost for the low skilled workers are inefficient for producers in the first place. Therefore, the low skilled will have to discover a new trade. Smith, Ricardo, and Heckscher-Ohlin would argue the low skilled would move to another sector in the new economy. They must assume the invisible hand will help get them there.<br /><br /><b>Toward Splendid Self Sustainment&nbsp;</b><br /><br />Autarky is not a realistic option. Should America, however, hypothetically speaking, exist under autarky, she would do just fine. Already with this point we are at disagreement with the existing dogma on free trade.<br /><br />Starting in 2008, the growth in cross border capital flows has fallen substantially compared to the 20 previous years. As a result, free movement of capital, at least compared to the era before 2008, has tightened if not become restricted. For a better explanation, consider globally what happened to Cyprus when explicit capital controls were implemented to prevent capital flight. These pressures on capital movement are a significant departure from recent historical policy. In fact, even the IMF has accepted controls to limit volatile cross-border capital flows.<br /><br />Despite the negatives from the preceding section, America still produces nearly 20 percent of the world's output with roughly 5 percent of the world’s total population. Considering that China is mostly a poverty-ridden, backward country with over a billion mouths to feed, America is in far better shape than its chief competitor.<br /><br />For the reasons opposite of China, America’s economy has access to a large domestic market. Because of widespread affluence, and a large (if not shrinking middle class) she is less exposed (read less dependent on other markets) to trade (around 15% of GDP) than other large economies. Even after the financial crisis, American households still hold a substantial net worth in excess of US$70 trillion.<br /><br />Her fertile plains feeds a land of over 300 million people; and yet, its surplus crops is enough to remain the world’s leading food producer. In grain alone, she exports half of the world’s supply.<br /><br />She rich is minerals, natural gas and even oil. Considering her technology and industrial know-how, it is an embarrassment of riches. Consider that America is shackled with draconian regulations against mining, drilling, and exploration and yet she still is a world’s leader in energy in spite of her government.<br /><br />The dollar, though weakening greatly, is still the world’s reserve currency. Some 60 percent of global-wide investments are held by the dollar.<br /><br />America’s antagonists may threaten to bail on this system, even kill the dollar in the process. All the US has to do is threaten to let it die and the nonsense talk ends abruptly. That is because there is no other reserve currency, and no other market or economy big enough to replace the dollar. Who will guarantee to those countries that hold US debt, securities, etc? Most of the world’s global trade is denominated in US dollars. Not even China, all of Asia, even with the help of Russia, can change that anytime soon.<br /><br />She knows this, too. In fact, Nixon’s floating currency idea was premised on this outcome. She can retreat from cluttered or chaotic global issues at anytime she desires. Afterward, she can still maintain low interest rates to reduce the cost of servicing debt. This allows for higher levels of borrowing, meaning it creates wealth and churns out multipliers from thin air.<br /><br />If the dollar devalues (by devaluing I only mean internationally or in foreign holdings. Because of America’s large domestic market and near guarantee of foreign or foreign backing, a devaluing of the dollar would have little impact on the American citizen) that fact also reduces the level of government debt, by decreasing its value in foreign currency terms. A weaker US dollar boosts exports and potentially erase or ease trade imbalances.<br /><br />A weaker dollar can also boost domestic production while encouraging a shift of production bringing manufacturing and assembly work back into the US. The effect would be job growth, more revenue for the government to pay down the large US budget deficit. A healthy shift to a more closed/or self sufficient economy is historically and politically consistent with America’s natural inclination toward isolationism. However American isolationism has always had another side to the coin. She has, at least since 1898, simultaneously focused on protecting the nation’s economic self-interest and expanding and defending US power and influence. The tightrope act has looked schizophrenic at times, however that is a different subject.<br /><br />Might we be seeing growing evidence and reason end this blind obsession to globalization? Greater integration is as dangerous is it is beneficial. Perhaps that is why we are seeing growth in trade and cross-border investment being reversed.<br /><br />Along with the economic benefits of global free trade, it is just as acceptable to consider the cost and simply asks: Is it worth it?</span></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PoliticsAndCriticalThinking/~4/rAODQeAnB-E" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Jason Bradley http://www.blogger.com/profile/17708604340093935198noreply@blogger.com0http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2015/01/gdp-uber-alles-unsustainability-factor.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752905450372366892.post-14312768025884916692015-01-06T21:05:00.000-06:002015-01-06T21:05:00.900-06:00Liberal Hypocrisy: Deaths caused by EIT's 0...deaths caused by drone strikes...3,674.Since last year's ambush report released by Senator Dianne Feinstein, &nbsp;accused the CIA of committing some fairly odious acts against terrorist operatives, the fallout that was supposed to follow has &nbsp;generally been an empty nothing. Call it the 'thud of silence'. Nevertheless, the protesting malcontent crowd was pretty ginned up and raucous in their usual slacktivist ways. (<i>For further situational awareness may I recommend going on Twitter and typing in &nbsp;#TortureReport to observe the rabidity. If there observations don't make you laugh they sure as hell will make you cry laughing.</i>)<div><br /></div><div>Ironically though <a href="http://blogs.cfr.org/zenko/2014/11/21/americas-500th-drone-strike/">this little nugget below</a> doesn't seemed to have done much in the way of motivation for the brain deficient lemmings on the American Left.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 27px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The most consistent and era-defining tactic of America’s post-9/11 counterterrorism strategies has been the targeted killing of suspected terrorists and militants outside of defined battlefields. As one senior Bush administration official&nbsp;<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/18/AR2007111800655.html" style="border: 0px; color: #2a69a1; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">explained</a>&nbsp;in October 2001, “The president has given the [CIA] the green light to do whatever is necessary. Lethal operations that were unthinkable pre-September 11 are now underway.” Shortly thereafter, a former CIA official&nbsp;<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/12/23/manhunt" style="border: 0px; color: #2a69a1; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">told</a>&nbsp;the&nbsp;<em style="border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">New Yorker</em>, “There are five hundred guys out there you have to kill.” It is quaint to recall that such a position was considered extremist and even morally unthinkable. Today, these strikes are broadly popular with the public and totally uncontroversial in Washington, both within the executive branch and on Capitol Hill. Therefore, it is easy to forget that this tactic, envisioned to be rare and used exclusively for senior al-Qaeda leaders thirteen years ago, has become a completely accepted and routine foreign policy activity.</span><span style="background-color: transparent;">&nbsp;</span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 27px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thus, just as you probably missed the tenth anniversary—November 3, 2012—of what I labeled&nbsp;the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/10/30/the_long_third_war" style="border: 0px; color: #2a69a1; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Third War</a>, it’s unlikely you will hear or read that the United States just launched its 500th non-battlefield targeted killing.</span><span style="background-color: transparent;">&nbsp;</span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 27px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As of today, the United States has now conducted 500 targeted killings (approximately 98 percent of them with drones), <b>which have killed an estimated 3,674 people</b>, <b>including 473&nbsp;civilians</b>. <b>Fifty of these were authorized by President George W. Bush, 450 and counting by President Obama</b>. Noticeably, these targeted killings have&nbsp;<a href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/09/18/mission_improbable_obama_islamic_state_taliban_al_qaeda" style="border: 0px; color: #2a69a1; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">not diminished</a>&nbsp;the size of the targeted groups according to the State Department’s own numbers.</span></blockquote><span id="fullpost"> </span><br /><div>No outrage, nor gnashing of teeth, no nothing...just hypocrisy.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>Maybe we should drop another $40 million and investigate this administration and see how heinous and insidious this program really is, because it sure as hell has killed a lot more people than any recently used EIT has.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PoliticsAndCriticalThinking/~4/_UTEf1M6MEg" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Michael Elliothttps://plus.google.com/114968196882213881255noreply@blogger.com0http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2015/01/liberal-hypocrisy-deaths-caused-by-eits.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752905450372366892.post-42505467759993211762015-01-02T12:40:00.001-06:002015-01-02T12:40:57.141-06:00Abysmal Record: The Catholic Church has failed to behead one heretic this year!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ECK5DnqXlLA/VKbmK-2QN0I/AAAAAAAACP4/pngv8rzUwpc/s1600/images%2B(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ECK5DnqXlLA/VKbmK-2QN0I/AAAAAAAACP4/pngv8rzUwpc/s1600/images%2B(2).jpg" /></a></div>From studying the Catholic Catechism to reading the vaunted words present in the Code of Canon Law to Aquinas's Summa Theologica, there were hours upon hours of Catholic fun in the Elliot household. But nothing ever compared to the fun that we had attending the Church's local beheadings of heretical members!!!&nbsp;<div><br /></div><div>I even remember a year when everyone was in lock step with Rome which created a deficit in heretics and worried Church elders that they might have to cancel the Christmas Day beheadings. It was horrible! It wasn't until a local priest and faithful member of the Diocesan order, Father Patrick O'Malley, had a remarkably genius idea; have a heretic lottery, that the festivities were saved. It as simple, the first five names drawn would be beheaded. Needless to say we all were eager to participate. Although there were claims of cronyism when the local Monsignor was the first name drawn. I still think the beheading lottery was rigged!!! But all in all, it did work out well, we had a great time and Father O'Malley after the Monsignor's beheading was appointed to the position.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>But I digress...</div><div><br /></div><div>Now it seems under the inept leadership of Pope Francis, &nbsp;I report with great sadness that the Catholic Church in its lack of support for "intolerance and extremism" has failed to behead ONE heretic!!! What the hell!!!</div><div><br /></div><div>From <a href="http://www.catholicvote.org/catholic-church-fails-to-behead-anybody-in-2014/">Catholic Vote</a>,</div><div><br /></div><blockquote class="tr_bq">For the most intolerant and extreme religion in the world, this is a rather embarrassing statistic.&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">It appears that the Catholic Church, widely recognized as the most uncompromising and dogmatic among the world’s major religions, is about to close out the year without executing a single person.&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">As everyone knows, the Catholic Church is a religion of strict doctrine, ruling every aspect of each individual Catholic’s life from the Vatican with an iron fist, while at the same time relentlessly imposing its beliefs on the rest of society.&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Yet for some reason the Catholic Church has had an abysmal year at the chopping block, failing to kill a single one of its billion-plus members for failing to live in strict adherence to her teachings. On top of that, the Vatican has put to death exactly zero people from other religions for refusing to convert to Catholicism.&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Even some followers of Islam, universally known as a religion of peace and tolerance, have found time on the weekends to behead a few non-believers. And yet the Catholic Church, far from resembling anything having to do with peace or tolerance, has taken incompetence to a whole new level when it comes to imposing its beliefs.&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Sure, 2015 is a new year and all, but let’s face it. When it comes to intolerance, we’re pathetic.</blockquote><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PoliticsAndCriticalThinking/~4/3thc47wYh4w" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Michael Elliothttps://plus.google.com/114968196882213881255noreply@blogger.com0http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2015/01/abysmal-record-catholic-church-has.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752905450372366892.post-66444954629826519062015-01-01T15:11:00.000-06:002015-01-02T11:04:56.572-06:00Steve Scalise: To speak or not to speak to EURO...that is the question.If you are politically active and/or informed then you should have heard about the fallout from Congressman Steve Scalise speaking engagement at a David Duke--former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan--created white-separatist group back in 2002. If you haven't heard about this then you are living under a political rock.&nbsp;<span id="fullpost"> </span><br /><div><br /></div><div>The group in question which is known as EURO (European-American Unity and Rights Organization), held a "civil-rights" workshop for white folks in mid-May of 2002 at the Metairie base hotel known at the time as the Landmark--now known as the Best Western Plus, Landmark Metairie.&nbsp;<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.464000701904297px;">&nbsp;(</span><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">For full disclosure, I have may or may not have been inebriated a time or two in this facility. But this alleged inebriation was not celebrating nor in support of any hate-groups. Just&nbsp;</span>allegedly<span style="font-family: inherit;">&nbsp;celebrating my God given right to get&nbsp;</span>allegedly</i><i style="font-family: inherit;">&nbsp;inebriated</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">.) Scalise as Louisiana State Rep allegedly spoke to EURO members under the&nbsp;auspice of discussing tax-policy with his&nbsp;</span>constituents<span style="font-family: inherit;">.&nbsp;</span></div><div></div><div><br />On December 28th of last year, Lamar White Jr., the proprietor of a Louisiana based liberal political blog, <a href="http://cenlamar.com/2014/12/28/house-majority-whip-steve-scalise-was-reportedly-an-honored-guest-at-2002-international-white-supremacist-convention/">uncovered this little nugget</a>. &nbsp;White's examination of the white-separatist/neo-Nazi forum 'Stormfront' uncovered a 2002 post from a now deceased member named Alsace Hebert. In this post, Hebert confirmed Scalise's presence at the meeting. He pointed out that Scalise discussed "ways to oversee gross mismanagement of tax revenue or “slush funds” that have little or no accountability" and "graft within the Housing and Urban Development Fund."<br /><br />Now...to Scalise's credit he has not denied being present at this meeting but has since denied any knowledge of the group's white-separatist or Neo-Nazi ties or intentions. He stated that he only had one staffer at the time and if someone called for him to speak at an engagement he would simply go and speak; evidently not vetting or their requests for his presence.</div><div><br /></div><div>Being from Louisiana and more specifically a former resident of the New Orleans for about twenty- nine years, I can confirm personally that I know of David Duke by his insidious reputation. In the region, he is a dark urban legend of sorts. However, I have never heard of EURO or any of of Duke's other organizations until this controversy. That being said there is a small possibility that Scalise may not have known either, but considering his political awareness of the area that might be a difficult fact for some folks to actually believe.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>Since all of this has come to light and after Scalise's denial of any knowledge of EURO's racist objectives or even who they were, David Duke's political advisor, Kenny Knight was recently reported as claiming that Scalise didn't speak to the EURO contingent but to a civic association prior to the meeting.<br /><br />From <a href="http://nola.com/">Nola.com</a>,<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Kenny Knight, a longtime political adviser to Duke, said Scalise spoke at a meeting of the Jefferson Heights Civic Association -- not affiliated with the European-American Unity and Rights conference that was held in the same Metairie hotel -- two-and-a-half hours before the white nationalist event started.&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">[...]<br /><br />Knight said he rented and paid for the hotel conference room for the European-American Unity and Rights Organization, a group founded by Duke. Since he had already paid for the space, Knight said, he decided to also hold his local civic association meeting at the Metairie hotel. He stressed that the two gatherings were not connected. <br /><br />"Steve Scalise did not address a EURO conference. ... The conference was two-and-a-half hours later," Knight said. </blockquote><br /><br />This point is also confirmed by Knight's former girlfriend Barbara Noble. <br /><br /><blockquote>Barbara Noble, who was dating Knight and said she attended the meeting, also said Wednesday that Scalise spoke to the civic group, not EURO.<br /><br />Scalise apologized this week for speaking to the EURO group, although he said he was unaware of the connections or the group's white supremacy ideology. Scalise has come under fire from some Democratic leaders and others, including calls for him to step down from his leadership position. </blockquote>Knight went on later to say that he "was not a member of EURO and did not arrange for any speakers at the 2002 conference," and that "He only booked and paid for the room as a favor to Duke, a personal friend whose campaigns he had worked on in the late 1980s and early 1990s." The allegation here is that Scalise was not even remotely connected to the EURO conference but that he was there to speak to the Civic Association as Knight alleges.<br /><br />This claim can be rudimentarily confirmed by a brochure for the event I <a href="http://www.snopes.com/politics/politicians/scalise.asp">found on Snopes.com</a>. It &nbsp;doesn't show Scalise as a booked speaker for the "civil rights workshop" or indicate any connection between him and EURO. Conversely though it does show Knight addressing the workshop which should leave some suspicions as to his claim about the depth of his ties to EURO. <br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a7RlK_HqsSI/VKWr5BfuTzI/AAAAAAAACPU/9mTcowNy-WU/s1600/davidduke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a7RlK_HqsSI/VKWr5BfuTzI/AAAAAAAACPU/9mTcowNy-WU/s1600/davidduke.jpg" height="251" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Photo credit: Snopes.com (<a href="http://www.snopes.com/politics/politicians/scalise.asp">Whip Backlash</a>)</i></td></tr></tbody></table>While no one has openly come out in the MSM specifically stating that Scalise is a supporter of David Duke, EURO, white-separatist or neo-Nazi movements the allegation that is underpinned is that he is sympathetic. &nbsp;That to me is rather an uninformed observation. Nazi organizations are more focused and concerned about the Jewish influence on America and the white culture than any other group, Jews are their enemy number one. Blacks, Hispanics, etc are periphery adversaires, granted they are still looked upon with disdain and contempt, but of a lesser importance to our not-so-friendly neighborhood hatemongers. Conversely, Scalise is a fairly well known supporter of Israel and Jews in general.<br /><br />From his <a href="https://www.facebook.com/RepSteveScalise/posts/10152124730421682">personal Facebook page</a> back in July of 2014.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0kOxibzhvsQ/VKWwKDt4UwI/AAAAAAAACPg/wprEaLbEQl0/s1600/Scalise.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0kOxibzhvsQ/VKWwKDt4UwI/AAAAAAAACPg/wprEaLbEQl0/s1600/Scalise.jpg" height="290" width="320" /></a></div><br />and again from this <a href="https://www.facebook.com/RepSteveScalise?fref=nf">past holiday season</a> about two weeks before all of this arose,<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QmVb6FwhJFc/VKWwo-ABpDI/AAAAAAAACPo/6FI4olbvgkw/s1600/Scalise%2B(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QmVb6FwhJFc/VKWwo-ABpDI/AAAAAAAACPo/6FI4olbvgkw/s1600/Scalise%2B(2).jpg" height="243" width="320" /></a></div><br />This is not a confirmation that Scalise had no intimate knowledge of EURO's ideology just to say that it is rather strange for a man of Scalise's belief system, which is in direct contradiction to that of EURO and David Duke, to be knowingly associated with their ilk. However it would be a fair accusation to allege that Scalise was being a political opportunist and just didn't give two shits who he was really addressing, if in fact he did speak to EURO directly and not a civic association as reported earlier.<br /><br />Regardless of what Scalise's intentions and knowledge were the damage to his political capital as the House Whip and to the GOP in general has been fairly extensive. As the Whip his legitimacy in the area of command and control of the House could be potentially diminished before he get's any chance to actually execute his duties. If pressure does continue to build, it is totally plausible that he will resign the position. For the GOP this situation allows Democratic operatives to push the narrative that they are "old-white racists" looking to bring back slavery with a complicit media to act as the avenue of production. None of this is to say that the GOP should really be worried because the Dems would have done this regardless.<br /><br />How this unfolds should be prototypical; Democrats screaming about how racist Republicans and Conservatives are and the GOP looking for the first rock to hide under. In other words, just another day up in the Beltway.<br /><br /><b>Addendum</b>: The semi-liberal (?) blog 'Scholars and Rogues' has a similar and well researched take on the Scalise situation, linked <a href="http://scholarsandrogues.com/2014/12/30/the-steve-scalise-story-youre-not-getting/">here</a>.<br /><br /><b>Addendum (2): </b>In the abovementioned post I indicated that I was suspicious about Kenny Knight's claim that his involvement with EURO was periphery at best based on the flier I obtained from Snopes. According to a new report Knight was evidently involved to a great degree than he first indicated to reporters.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">The David Duke associate who <a href="http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/12/david_duke_adviser_kenny_knigh.html">disavowed membership in a white nationalist group</a> linked to U.S. House Majority Whip <a href="http://topics.nola.com/tag/steve-scalise/index.html">Steve Scalise</a> was at one time an officer in that group, according to public records. Kenny Knight told NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune on Wednesday that he was not a member of the European-American Unity and Rights Organization, but documents filed with the Louisiana secretary of state's office list him as treasurer of its predecessor, the National Organization for European American Rights, in 2000.<br /> <br /><br />Further, a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20020606141424/http://www.whitecivilrights.com/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1022201961,47307,">May 16, 2002, news release</a> on an an archived version of EURO's former website, www.whitecivilrights.com, lists Knight as "EURO Louisiana State Representative Kenny Knight." The release says Knight was expected to address the group's May 17-18, 2002, conference...</blockquote><br />If you look at the photo of the pamphlet above, it does explicitly state that Knight is indeed addressing the EURO workshop. Not that Knight's credibility was the greatest to begin with but this does blow an even bigger hole in his previous story.&nbsp;</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PoliticsAndCriticalThinking/~4/CiB9gMA1EeY" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Michael Elliothttps://plus.google.com/114968196882213881255noreply@blogger.com0http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2015/01/steve-scalise-to-speak-or-not-to-speak.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752905450372366892.post-62894442476557060402015-01-01T10:58:00.003-06:002015-01-01T10:58:36.090-06:00HAPPY 2015!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hp1KmwpKkdc/VKV8gdiFzCI/AAAAAAAACPE/mbZA25PsyVE/s1600/download%2B(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hp1KmwpKkdc/VKV8gdiFzCI/AAAAAAAACPE/mbZA25PsyVE/s1600/download%2B(3).jpg" /></a></div>Happy New Year fro all of us here at PCT!! I hope your New Year's Eve night celebration was fun as hell and safe!!&nbsp;<div><br /></div><div>My head is still ringing from mine....ugh, hangovers.<span id="fullpost"> </span></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PoliticsAndCriticalThinking/~4/n7YWALDXZos" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Michael Elliothttps://plus.google.com/114968196882213881255noreply@blogger.com0http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2015/01/happy-2015.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752905450372366892.post-64956215487302867692014-12-29T17:54:00.000-06:002014-12-29T17:55:55.953-06:00President Obama's admission to being in a perpetual campaign mode?On December 18th the President did a <a href="http://www.npr.org/about-npr/372914282/full-transcript-npr-news-interview-with-president-obama">softball interview with NPR</a>. While reading the transcript I came across an admission which I thought was an interesting testimony to his philosophy on governance.&nbsp;<span id="fullpost"> </span><br /><div><br /></div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 29.00200080871582px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Now you've got Republicans in a position where it's not enough for them simply to grind the wheels of Congress to a halt and then blame me. They are going to be in a position in which they have to show that they can responsibly govern, given that they have significant majorities in both chambers. <b>And, you know, what I've said repeatedly is that I want to work with them; I want to get things done.</b> <b>I don't have another election to run</b>."</span></span></blockquote>More often than not the POTUS has been criticized for being in a perpetual campaign mode rather than actually governing. In his own words, he seems to have indicated that these criticisms have an air of legitimacy to them. <br /><br /><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PoliticsAndCriticalThinking/~4/0PnU264g3vw" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Michael Elliothttps://plus.google.com/114968196882213881255noreply@blogger.com0http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2014/12/president-obamas-admission-to-being-in.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752905450372366892.post-72097082495330570842014-12-24T23:55:00.002-06:002014-12-24T23:55:36.833-06:00Merry Christmas!!!From Politics and Critical Thinking to you and yours!!&nbsp;<span id="fullpost"></span><br /><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.fg-a.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Clipart" border="0" class="embeddedObject" src="http://content.screencast.com/users/fg-a/folders/christmas/media/1cc7605a-fa98-46a3-a109-2414dd9c2698/MRYXMAS021Ea1b2a.gif" height="80" width="244" /></a><br /><br /><br /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PoliticsAndCriticalThinking/~4/vTHnb2KVyxo" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Michael Elliothttps://plus.google.com/114968196882213881255noreply@blogger.com0http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2014/12/merry-christmas.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752905450372366892.post-83771847905869890132014-12-17T20:59:00.000-06:002014-12-17T21:00:06.242-06:00The Age of New Nationalism<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.counter-currents.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F12%2FRomulus-Remus-260x146.jpg&amp;container=blogger&amp;gadget=a&amp;rewriteMime=image%2F*" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.counter-currents.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F12%2FRomulus-Remus-260x146.jpg&amp;container=blogger&amp;gadget=a&amp;rewriteMime=image%2F*" /></a></div><b style="color: #660000; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b><b style="color: #660000; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way…(A Tale of Two Cities (1859)</span></b><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: x-large;"><b>A&nbsp;</b></span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">spectre is haunting the world — the spectre of nationalism. In many nations around the world, its citizens as well as its governments are turning toward nationalism. Finally looking inward, finally rebelling against the&nbsp;<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">international</i>&nbsp;community which doesn’t exist except in the minds of Western liberals, and returning to that&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.arktos.com/guillaume-faye-why-we-fight.html"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">pure concept of ethnic self-rule</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">&nbsp;for the fixes that ail their countries [1].<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"></span></div><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">That spectre is taking on body and form all across Europe. This week&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/15/dresden-police-pegida-germany-far-right"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">15,000 German nationalists marched</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">&nbsp;in Dresden draped in flags and raised banners bearing slogans such as “Zero tolerance towards criminal asylum seekers”, “Protect our homeland” and “Stop the Islamization”. The echoes of chants&nbsp;<i>“Wir sind das Volk”,</i>&nbsp;or “We are the people” thundered in unison into the welcoming night.</span></span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">Some told the Guardian of their angst over the “demise of the West” due to the rise of Islam or voiced their distaste of salafists and homosexuals in the same breath, or decried the recent decision by local politicians to increase the number of homes for asylum seekers.</span></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">And how the establishment quaked, dug down in its bag for canned remarks, and repeated, with a straight face, “these people are obviously right-wing extremist and racists. They do not represent Germany,” and so on.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">Oh but they do you old fools, and your old criminal labels do not matter in this emerging new age. Soon your mouths will be as empty as your burned out ideas.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">No less than 24 right-wing populist parties took about a quarter of the European Parliament seats during May elections. And soon they will be in charge of Germany just like they will soon be in charge in&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/sep/08/le-pen-tops-presidential-poll-for-first-time-ever"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">France</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">&nbsp;and the&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/539175/Boost-Farage-Ukip-second-Tories"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">United Kingdom</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2636850/Across-Europe-support-nationalist-parties-makes-Ukip-look-moderate.html"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">in years to come</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">.&nbsp;</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">Just like they are already in charge in Russia, China, Japan, Turkey, India and Israel in what Patrick J. Buchanan [2] describes as the&nbsp;</span><a href="http://buchanan.org/blog/rise-putinism-7259"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">new Putinism leadership</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">&nbsp;“behind nationalistic strong men,” save for the lone lady, National Front’s Marine Le Pen.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">“All are nationalists,” Buchan writes, “almost all tend to a social conservatism from which Western democracies recoil. Almost none celebrate democracy or democratic values the way we do.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">American and Western social progressive imperialism is withering in its own backyard. Liberal Democratic hegemony is being replaced by an insular drive, a return to the sacred. These nationalists are carrying the light, “in which they are all, “in some way or another, different from and hostile to, modern Western values of individual rights, tolerance, cosmopolitanism, and internationalism” (Buchanan, 2014).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">Human rights and democracy crusades have been exposed as the farce they always were. Putin stood up to the Western progressive supremacists and the powerful America media industry over his country’s homosexual policies during the Winter Olympics. Something they are unaccustomed to, especially the feared US Media, as they are used to bullying and steam rolling over opposition.</span></div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">“Yet not every American revels in the sewer that is our popular culture. Not every American believes we should impose our democratist ideology on other nations. Nor are Big Media and Hollywood universally respected. Patriotism, religion and social conservatism guide the lives of a majority of Americans today” (Buchanan, 2014).</span></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">The nationalists in these countries are reclaiming for themselves what globalization ripped away: cultural spirituality and identity. [3]<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">They are saying: The Western world has no need of Africa, the Middle East, or any nation in the Global South, except only where potential economic interests exist; otherwise any other cooperation turns into bloodletting affair and a threat to our civilization. Colonization of the West must end. Europa is for Europeans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">Decisions should be based on organic values, rooted in the wisdom and certainty of time and soil, as the&nbsp;<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sine qua non</i>&nbsp;(“necessary prerequisite”) that every self-governing people should possess. Not based on the creeds from liberal dogma of hyper-secularism, ultra-individualism, and&nbsp;<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">everyman&nbsp;</i>equality.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">After 70 years of social experimentation in the West, multiculturalism, third world immigration, rabid liberalism and budget draining welfare systems, has conjured up a perfect catastrophe for ethnic and racial strife. A battleground between citizen and state is being flooded with effectives. High ground is being seized. The ranks are thickening, forming for ideological warfare.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">Cross posted from online source:&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><a href="http://membersoftheright.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-age-of-new-nationalism.html">http://membersoftheright.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-age-of-new-nationalism.html</a></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><br /></span></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><b>Notes</b><o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">1. Read: Guillaume Faye: “Why We Fight: Manifesto for the European Resistance” (2011)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">2. Patrick J. Buchanan, “The Rise of Putinism” (2014). Online source:&nbsp;<a href="http://buchanan.org/blog/rise-putinism-7259">http://buchanan.org/blog/rise-putinism-7259</a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><br /></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">3. Vladimir Putin and European nationalist parties are working together to weaken the EU and reestablish Europe as a continental entity of independents. Online Source:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/russia-reaches-europes-parties-27575842">http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/russia-reaches-europes-parties-27575842</a></span></div><span id="fullpost"> </span><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PoliticsAndCriticalThinking/~4/mI1ZoG3FubI" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Jason Bradley http://www.blogger.com/profile/17708604340093935198noreply@blogger.com0http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-age-of-new-nationalism.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752905450372366892.post-77528871937413853352014-12-15T18:04:00.002-06:002014-12-15T18:05:55.739-06:00A Big Mac Is More Than Tasty, It's A Brilliant Economist <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Big_Mac_hamburger.jpg/230px-Big_Mac_hamburger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Big_Mac_hamburger.jpg/230px-Big_Mac_hamburger.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Tasty and cram-packed with cement cholesterol for your&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: white;">arteries,&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">McDonalds' Big Mac has been nation wide since 1968 the binge food of choice for drunks and&nbsp;</span>tokers<span style="font-family: inherit;">&nbsp;alike.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><br />And why shouldn't it be? The Big Mac <a href="http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/getnutrition/ingredientslist.pdf">consists</a> of two 1.6 oz (45.4 g) 100 per cent beef patties, American cheese, "special sauce" (a variant of Thousand Island dressing),iceberg lettuce, pickles, and onions, served in a three-part sesame seed bun.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Aside from these measurements, the Big Mac also serves as a cutting edge analytical indicator for economist, social scientists, and general social sentiment. That point should be obvious considering that McDonalds has restaurants in 116 countries around the world.&nbsp;</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>&nbsp;Big MacCurrencies</b>&nbsp;<b>or Big Mac Price Index</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;">Fist to mention is that McDonalds’ Big Macs are not traded between countries, but are sold to individuals and marketed as tasty, consumer convenience. McDonalds has certainly kept with KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) along the way.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As mentioned, there are McDonalds restaurants operating in over 116 countries around the world. This gives economists a strategic web of information about local Big Mac prices, which then can be compared with a given foreign exchange rate or rates that provide indications to changes in currency exchange rates. For example, the The Economist covers some of these concepts in “Big MacCurrencies” (The Economist).&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Here is how the methodology is used, which is similar to what I have explained:&nbsp;</span></div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Burgernomics is based on the theory of purchasing-power parity, the notion that a dollar should buy the same amount in all countries. Thus in the long run, the exchange rate between two currencies should move towards the rate that equalises the prices of an identical basket of goods and services in each country. Our “basket” is a McDonald's Big Mac, which is produced in about 120 countries. The Big Mac PPP is the exchange rate that would mean hamburgers cost the same in America as abroad. Comparing actual exchange rates with PPPs indicates whether a currency is under- or overvalued."&nbsp;</span></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Application</b>&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So, for example, if&nbsp;<span style="color: red;">country X</span>&nbsp;prices its Big Mac at 14.50 to the cost of&nbsp;<span style="color: blue;">country Y’s&nbsp;</span>currency exchange rate of 5.00, (5.00 /14.50 = 2.90) suggests that it would cost $2.90 to purchase a Big Mac in&nbsp;<span style="color: red;">country X</span>&nbsp;for&nbsp;<span style="color: blue;">country Y</span>. This does not tell us much without the final part of the equation.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Let’s assume that the local price of a Big Mac in&nbsp;<span style="color: blue;">country Y</span>&nbsp;cost 2.50. However, when calculating the exchange rate, the price for a Big Mace in&nbsp;<span style="color: red;">country X</span>&nbsp;is actually .40&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">more.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Economist would judge that</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">&nbsp;</span><span style="color: red; font-family: inherit;">country X’s</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">currency might be over-valued against the currency of</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">&nbsp;</span><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">country Y</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For the cost of the Big Mac in&nbsp;<span style="color: red;">country X</span>&nbsp;to equal the price of the Big Mac in&nbsp;<span style="color: blue;">country Y</span>,&nbsp;<span style="color: red;">country X</span>’s currency would need to appreciate from 14.50 to 12.50 against&nbsp;<span style="color: blue;">country Y</span>’s currency. Using the same formula it looks like this: (5.00 / 12.50 = 2.50) which is equal to the price of the Big Mac in&nbsp;<span style="color: blue;">country Y</span>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Here is another example from The Economist to close, “the average price of a Big Mac in America in July 2013 was $4.56; in China it was only $2.61 at market exchange rates.&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So the "raw" Big Mac index says that the yuan was undervalued by 43% at that time” (The Economist, The Big Mac index). Big surprise there. Red China loves Big Macs and&nbsp;</span>devaluing its<span style="font-family: inherit;">&nbsp;Yuan against the Buck.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;"><br /></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">References&nbsp;</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Economist (2000). Big MacCurrencies. Retrieved from&nbsp;<a href="http://www.economist.com/node/305167">http://www.economist.com/node/305167</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Economist (2013). The big mac index. Retrieved from&nbsp;<a href="http://www.economist.com/content/big-mac-index">http://www.economist.com/content/big-mac-index</a></span></div><span id="fullpost"> </span><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PoliticsAndCriticalThinking/~4/lohm9V2ff1s" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Jason Bradley http://www.blogger.com/profile/17708604340093935198noreply@blogger.com0http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-big-macs-is-more-than-tasty-its.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752905450372366892.post-86041080110685373782014-12-14T13:23:00.000-06:002014-12-14T13:38:16.446-06:00GDP Uber Alles & the Unsustainability Factor<!--StartFragment--> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2008/04/03/dd5ec5e2-a642-11e2-a3f0-029118418759/thumbnail/620x350/1a4ffdaa711d0a610ffec93528584c18/image3992978x.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2008/04/03/dd5ec5e2-a642-11e2-a3f0-029118418759/thumbnail/620x350/1a4ffdaa711d0a610ffec93528584c18/image3992978x.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is part 1 in a series of America's economic decline and useful policy alternatives for the future. </span></i></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></span><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hijacking America <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In light of the growing concerns that plague the future stability as a nation, Alexander Hamilton’s “Report on Manufactures” is a fitting for an introduction. The wisdom in these words should strike a tone to our ears even more so then they did when they were read for the first time to the House of Representatives in 1791.</span></div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“If one nation were in a condition to supply manufactured articles on better terms than another, that other might find an abundant indemnification in a superior capacity…And a free exchange, mutually beneficial, of the commodities which each was able to supply, on the best terms, might be carried on between them, supporting, in full vigor, the industry of each...</span><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;">&nbsp;</span></o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;">But the system which has been mentioned is far from characterizing the general policy of nations. The prevalent one has been regulated by an opposite spirit. The consequence of it is, that the United States are, to a certain extent, in the situation of a country precluded from foreign commerce.”</span></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">According Leslie Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations wrote, “No nation with a massive debt has ever remained a great power.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What nation was she referring to? The United States of America. US heavy industry has largely disappeared, having moved to foreign competitors, which has cut deeply into its ability to be independent in times of peril. Its public school students trail their peers in other industrialized countries in math and science. Not because American kids are born more ignorant, it is because of our education system, our fractured politics, bilingual and multiethnic classrooms, which slow progress and advancement. Nonetheless, we are losing our ability to compete in the global economy. Entire generations of Americans read barely at a grade school level, know almost no history, basic science, and next to nothing in geography. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Political Science professor, Robert Cape, of the University of Chicago, ads an equally bleak diagnosis, “America’s relative decline since 2000 of some 30 percent represents a far greater loss of relative power in a shorter time than any power shift among European great powers from roughly the end of the Napoleonic Wars to World War II. Indeed in the first decade of the Second American Century, a net zero new jobs were created. The average American household earned less at the end of this decade than at the beginning. American savings and investment accounts are lower and the dollar is worth less, unemployment is higher, and 50,000 plants and factories shut down (Meyerson, Washington Post, 2010). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We now buy abroad, what we used to produce here at home, for nearly all of our daily items, this includes critical technology for infrastructure and defense (termed Advanced Technology Products). Reason we routinely run a half trillion-dollar trade deficit, causing James Buchanan to quip, “China today has the trade profile of an industrial and technological power while the manifest of U.S. exports to China, aircraft excepted, reads like the exports of the Jamestown Colony to the Mother country” (Suicide of a Super Power). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Vincent Law <a href="http://membersoftheright.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-dogma-of-free-trade.html">nails this point</a>perfectly.</span></div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #262626;">The entire free trade theory willingly recognizes that there will be winners and losers. But the net benefits we are told, will clearly outweigh any costs. But the costs are there, and often times will not be counted as easily as units of coal exported and units of cheap chinese junk imported. Unemployment leads to depression, destruction of the nuclear family unit, mass relocation, ghost cities, and disproportionate strain on different sectors of our society. And only the elites and (the token scholarship minority) who get the top tier education can get their foot in the door of the lucrative booming “services” sector of the economy (read: consulting, finance.) It is precisely these folks who are told all throughout school that international trade is GREAT, outsourcing is SUPER, and that a rising tide lifts all boats.</span></span></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mark Drajem for Bloomberg ticks off a depressing list of lost jobs in semiconductor and electronic components (42%), communications equipment (48%), and textile lost an astonishing 62%. These depressing figures caused Auggie Tantillo, executive director of the American Manufacturing Trade Action Committee to say, “Running a trade deficit for natural resources that the United States lacks is something that cannot be helped, but running a massive trade deficit in man-made products that America can easily produce itself is a choice—a poor choice that is bankrupting the country and responsible for the loss of millions of jobs.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Who did this to us? We did this—The American voter through ignorance, the American politician from the influence of lobbyists. We believed in the new creed: “plenty for today, wait and see about tomorrow.” And we have invited the whole world to the party, promising welfare and entitlements for life, mortgaging it all for a future generation to pay, arrogantly thinking the paradigm of consuming more than we can produce will forever be sustainable. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Unless you are a part of the tiny fraction of Americans at the top of the food chain, you have no economic freedom in which to speak. Do not confuse the recent American capitalist creed that because you have freedom to spend along with consumer choice, you have economic ability. You do not. You are a surplus commodity.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Since1970, the American economic way of life changed forever. Our economy altered at light speed from industry and production to services and the financilization of everything. The short analyses reveal during this time that the greater majority of Americans have become serfs. The dollar does not spend the same as it once did, we don’t make as much relative to our parents and grandparents, yet tax revenues set newer and newer records each year. It now takes two working parents to afford a household where once it took just one. Homes were paid off sooner and people once could work their way through college.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now Americans are deeper in debt and so is the country. Our so-called freedoms to spend and economic choices to make are illusions, a product of psychology and consumer-driven marketing ploys. The truth of the matter is these so-called economic freedoms and choices have been made compulsory in order to live. The “financializaiton” and government involvement in the economy has <a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB124580461065744913?mg=reno64-wsj&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB124580461065744913.html"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">produced regulatory capture</span></a> for the consumer. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In a short synopsis what does this all mean? Well, let first me first mention this point: Our national debt roughly stands at $14 trillion. However, that is not our structural debt, which is what our legislators have promised to fund. Programs like Social Security, Medicare, government pensions, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>If we go by the General Accounting Office, that number is anywhere between 60 and 80 trillion. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Government’s involvement in the economy has widened and caused a series of bubbles in its wake. Total government spending amounts to more than 40 percent of gross domestic product, equal to what the economy actually produces in a year [1]. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">How does this affect the US globally? Other economic giants such as China, Japan, Persian Gulf governments and sovereign wealth funds are suspecting, and rightfully so, that they are holding worthless papers. The fear being, of course, the US will default on the massive debt or cheapen the hold by inflation. As these fears grow a few things will happen. These countries, which are essentially our creditors, will stop buying US debt or start selling it or force a higher interest rate to offset the risks associated in holding it. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Fed will have no choice but to raise rates to attract borrows, which will greatly increase the chances for recession. Once this comes to pass, as many have stated, the US debt will be largest single item in the federal budget. Eerily Lenin supposedly once said that the surest way to bring down capitalism and ruin its institutions was to debauch the currency, whereby through process of inflation, governments can confiscate secretly. In essence, government will swallow the economy and the interest of one is no longer separate from the other. So, what once cost 25 cents now cost $5 or 10. For example, gas today cost 14 to 16 times as much as it did in the 1950s. The point is that dollar has lost anywhere between 75 to 90% of its purchasing power. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Different Course and Social Implications. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There is, of course, an alternative: A nationalistic economy secures the domestic interests, first. When farmers need more workers they should raise wages to attract workers, not import cheap, low-skilled laborers who will require welfare assistance for the duration of their lives. If manufactures, such as car manufactures for example, wish to produce quality goods, suited toward their main consumer, the American people, then perhaps the best way is to allow American workers to manufacture those products.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If American car manufactures are falling behind Europe and Asia, then time is of the essence to turn ship and take a correct course. Corporations should hire more engineers, invest in human capital by sponsoring advanced degrees for aspiring design engineers, and reform corporate management by putting senior engineers in chief managerial roles as the Germans and Italians do.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">America, during the 1950s and ’60s, owned the world market in car manufacturing. Now American auto manufacturing capability is merely a drop in the pacific. Since 1970, Japan has purchased <a href="http://autos.aol.com/article/japan-bias/"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">less than a million</span></a> U.S. cars, while selling us over 50 million [2]. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Free traders suggest this is a good thing: Japan makes a superior product, and Japanese consumers, just like American consumers, choose to buy Japanese made cars. However, the deluge of imports and the flood of outsourcing have created, in spite of increased wealth and access to every widget and gadget under the sun, an economic system of diminished returns. College graduates can’t find work and are forced to move back in with their parents. Children are raised in daycare because mothers are forced to find a job and help support the family. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ernest Hemmingway wrote, “the first principle of a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency, the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is impossible to deny that free trade works, when it works. In the same breath, it is important to identify and then realize the areas it has failed. For starters <a href="http://insurgentnotes.com/2011/08/the-murder-of-the-mon-valley/"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">take a stroll through</span></a> the Mon Valley of Pennsylvania; book a tour through a travel guide and take in the sights of the shrinking, gutted city of Detroit—once America’s Great Arsenal of Democracy, its forges now rusts in obscurity, cold and forgotten inside an empty factory. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There is reason why the majority of Americans feel the country is headed in the wrong direction. We should listen to them even if most cannot give in detail the source of their anxiety. However, instinctively most Americans, on some level, are economic nationalist. The differences come out when they bump up against a hard advocate for absolute free trade. One issue in particular is the understanding of one word, “need.” For example, free traders will say, “we need immigrants to do the jobs American won’t do.” Or “we need to outsource some jobs that can be done cheaper and more efficient so that Americans can have more for less.”&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">These are understandable motivations on a superficial level, but the logic isn’t quite as sound as assumed. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">While there are “needs” in one’s life, from an economic standpoint, rarely can a need be objectively and quantifiably determined. In fact, the former is really a wish. Comparing needs and wishes are not semantics but a real idea. Farmers may wish for more farm workers, American manufactures may wish for better profits by reducing production costs. Anyone is entitled to wish for anything they happen to imagine, but the object desired is rarely a need. Even worse is allowing powers at the top to determine for the rest of us what our needs are.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Bringing in more foreign workers is not without costs to society. Outsourcing jobs to foreign countries is <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-offshore-outsourcing-of-american-jobs-a-greater-threat-than-terrorism/18725"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">not without costs</span></a> to the American economy. Our elites inform us we have access to plenty of goods. We have more than we can otherwise produce on our own. However, we also have a long-running trade deficit and a permanent unemployed/underemployed class. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Our nation enjoys its place as the world’s oldest constitutional republic, and is still the model to which other nations aspire. However, if the American people and the politicians they elect cannot standup and prevent the coming calamity, the devaluation or default of our currency, can we continue to say democracy is the pinnacle of human society? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Will we have to concede that John Adams was correct when he dimly reflected, “Remember, that democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Notes</b><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">1. “Substantial expansion in the size and scope of government, including through new and costly regulations in areas like finance and health care, has contributed significantly to the erosion of U.S. economic freedom” (online source: <a href="http://www.heritage.org/research/"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">http://www.heritage.org/research/commentary/ 2014/1/why-is-america-losing-its-economic-freedom</span></a>).&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">2. Gary Hoffman, (2009). 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mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <!--EndFragment--><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">3. Read Patrick J. Buchanan’s Suicide of a Super Power</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><ol></ol><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><!--EndFragment--><span id="fullpost"> </span><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PoliticsAndCriticalThinking/~4/6VBPArR09lc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Jason Bradley http://www.blogger.com/profile/17708604340093935198noreply@blogger.com0http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2014/12/gdp-uber-alles-unsustainability.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752905450372366892.post-39207874890637955802014-12-13T14:15:00.000-06:002014-12-13T14:22:45.024-06:00The United States can no longer 'grow' its way out of debt.At one point and really not that long ago it seemed the right-winged philosophy of growing the country out of its present fiscal problems might have seemed feasible. It would have been a very difficult road requiring a comprehensive usage of different economic thoughts; reformation of the tax code, an overhaul of monetarist policy, repatriating American investment capital which is currently being sent overseas in droves, rebuilding and modernizing America's infrastructure, massive R&amp;D projects on both the government and private sides, revitalization of manufacturing sector, increasing the US energy sector, etc.&nbsp;<span id="fullpost"> </span><br /><div><br /></div><div>Well according to the writers over at ZeroHedge <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-12/paying-down-debt-now-almost-mathematically-impossible">we have reached the tipping-point</a>&nbsp;and can no longer grow out of nation's debtor status.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div><blockquote style="background-color: white; line-height: 17.333332061767578px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-top: 0.25em;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-top: 0.25em;"><strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">Exactly 199 years ago, in 1815, a “temporary” committee was established in the US Senate called the Committee on Finance and Uniform National Currency.</span></strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-top: 0.25em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It was set up to address economic issues and the debt accrued by the US government after the War of 1812.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-top: 0.25em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Of course, because there’s nothing more permanent than a temporary government measure,&nbsp;<strong>the committee became a permanent one after just one year.</strong></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-top: 0.25em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><strong>It soon expanded its role</strong>&nbsp;from raising tariffs to having influence over taxation, banking, currency, and appropriations.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-top: 0.25em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In subsequent wars, notably the American Civil War,&nbsp;<strong>the Committee was quick to use its powers and introduced the union’s first income tax.</strong>&nbsp;They also detached the dollar from gold to help fund the war.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-top: 0.25em;"><u><strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">This was all an indication of things to come.</span></strong></u></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-top: 0.25em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Over the subsequent decades there was a sustained push to finally establish the country’s central bank that will control money and credit, as well as institute a permanent income tax to feed the expanding aspirations of government.</span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">They succeeded in 1913 when the Federal Reserve Act was passed and the 16th Amendment ratified, binding the country in the shackles of central banking and taxation of income.<span style="background-color: transparent;">&nbsp;</span></span></blockquote><blockquote style="background-color: white; line-height: 17.333332061767578px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-top: 0.25em;"><strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">Over the century that followed, the US has gone from being the biggest creditor in the world to its biggest debtor.</span></strong><span style="background-color: transparent;">&nbsp;</span></blockquote><blockquote style="background-color: white; line-height: 17.333332061767578px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-top: 0.25em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Decades of expanding government programs, waste, endless and costly wars, etc. have racked up such an enormous pile of debt that it has become almost impossible to pay it down.</span><span style="background-color: transparent;">&nbsp;</span></blockquote><blockquote style="background-color: white; line-height: 17.333332061767578px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-top: 0.25em;"><strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">A lot of folks don’t realize that, since the end of World War II, the US government’s total tax revenue has been almost constant at roughly 17% of GDP.</span></strong><span style="background-color: transparent;">&nbsp;</span></blockquote><blockquote style="background-color: white; line-height: 17.333332061767578px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-top: 0.25em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In other words, even though the actual tax rates themselves rise and fall, the government’s ‘slice’ of the economic pie is almost always the same - 17%.</span><span style="background-color: transparent;">&nbsp;</span></blockquote><blockquote style="background-color: white; line-height: 17.333332061767578px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-top: 0.25em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I’ve worked out a mathematical model which shows that, even with absurd assumptions (7%+ GDP growth for years at a time, low interest rates, etc.), it is simply not feasible for the US government to ‘grow’ its way out.</span></blockquote>Deficits may not matter but the debt and interest they generate sure as hell do.</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PoliticsAndCriticalThinking/~4/8Dy9SD_tirc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Michael Elliothttps://plus.google.com/114968196882213881255noreply@blogger.com0http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-united-states-can-no-longer-grow.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752905450372366892.post-45650517090423251332014-12-12T23:06:00.000-06:002014-12-12T23:10:10.492-06:00Senate's CIA "Torture Report" <span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">It is&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">truth</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">,&nbsp;</span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"><i>but truth is not always appearance</i>.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>~<span style="color: #545454;"><span style="line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">Ichabod Crane, Sleepy Hollow (1999)</span></span></i></span></span><br /><div><br /></div><div>As readers undoubtedly already know...the Senate Intelligence Committee, under the auspice of Senator Dianne Feinstein, has released the very damning report titled "<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/national/cia-interrogation-report/document/">Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program</a>." In it we see a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/national/cia-interrogation-report/key-findings/?hpid=z1">pretty horrific picture painted</a> of the CIA's interrogation program; ranging from allegations of "avoiding or impeding oversight" of any kind, was "brutal and far worse" than represented, "not an effective means of acquiring intelligence" etc. Fairly damning and damaging to the Agency's reputation as well as to the United States' standing in the world.<br /><br />(Before I go on and for the integrity of this topic, I emphatically sanction the use of EIT's on terrorists--who seek to kill, torture, and subjugate the free people of this world in the name of "religious rectitude"--to secure their motivations and plans. My perspective on most foreign policy or security issues is strictly and religiously utilitarian. In that if actions maximize the overall benefit--protecting US civilians, military, and interests--is achieved then the judgement of the action--use of EIT's--should be measured by this metric.)<br /><br />Now that that disclaimer is out of the way and there is no question as to my motivation let's get started with the critique.<br /><br /><b>The Partisan Nature of the Report</b><br /><br />Absolutely the largest point that makes taking this report seriously extremely problematic is who produced it.<br /><br />From the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/senate-report-on-cia-program-details-brutality-dishonesty/2014/12/09/1075c726-7f0e-11e4-9f38-95a187e4c1f7_story.html">Washington Post</a>,&nbsp;<i style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22px;">(Emphasis Mine.)</i><br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 32.400001525878906px;">The invest</span><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 32.400001525878906px;">igati</span></b><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 32.400001525878906px;"><b>on was conducted exclusively by the Senate committee’s Democratic staff</b>. Its release Tuesday is certain to stir new debate over a program that has been a source of contention&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/01/AR2005110101644.html" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #2e6d9d; line-height: 32.400001525878906px; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;">since the first details about the CIA’s secret prison network began to surface publicly a decade ago</a><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 32.400001525878906px;">.&nbsp;</span></span></blockquote>So...why weren't any Republican staffers present? Well...the blame and culpability for this being the case <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2014/12/11/sen-blunt-torture-report-was-a-partisan-effort-with-no-republican-participation/">lies solely at the feet of the GOP</a>. <br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; line-height: 28.15999984741211px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“My predecessor, Sen. Bond, was the lead Republican on the Committee when the report was started. <b>Sen. Bond’s determination early on was that this report was clearly a partisan effort, and there was no reason for the Republican staff to continue to participate</b>,” Blunt said.&nbsp;</span></span>&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22px;">(Emphasis Mine.)</i></blockquote>Any present day Republican decrying the "partisan nature" of this report should shut his/her collective mouth. Because they, the GOP, had motive and opportunity to fight inside the committee and control some of the report's outcomes. Not take their toys and go home. Anyone who is politically active or pays attention should have known how that these&nbsp;<a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-cia-torture-mark-kirk-reaction-met-20141210-story.html">little Progressive knobs</a> would structure this report in the manner they did, it was or should have been expected.<br /><br />Where the Republican leadership is concerned, these Democrat actions aren't or weren't some kind of fucking recent revelation brought on by a momentary lapse in their judgment. The Republican leadership had five years to mull over this and if they would have stayed engaged they might have had an opportunity to do something about it instead of just crying foul. All of this was part and parcel of the larger problem that has plagued these tools (Democrats) since 2007 and earlier--their Leftist extremism and their sick-headed and morally bankrupt agenda.<br /><br />If you are&nbsp;uninitiated in the Progressive mind-set towards war and foreign policy, please see this <a href="http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2014/12/hillary-clintons-empathize-versus-king.html">post</a> for an eye opening crash-course on their ludicrous philosophies.<br /><br /><b>Structure of the Report</b><br /><b><br /></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>By any means necessary...</i></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>~Jean Paul Sartre, Dirty Hands (1948)</i></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></span>Piggybacking of the abovementioned content, you would be hard-pressed to convince me otherwise that the Democratic staffers or their leadership didn't start this investigation with the presupposition that the Agency was guilty of transgressions. These little nihilists so vehemently opposed the use of EIT's that they would burst into histrionics at the mere mention of the acronym. So with all the emotional vomiting they had subjected the nation to over the years, they HAD to prove themselves correct. &nbsp;Regardless of the cost and who it might affect.<br /><br />In a <a href="http://the%20republicans%20checked%20out%20early%20when%20they%20determined%20that%20their%20counterparts%20started%20out%20with%20the%20premise%20that%20the%20cia%20was%20guilty%20and%20then%20worked%20to%20prove%20it./">op-ed for USA Today</a>, former Senator, member of the&nbsp;<span style="font-family: inherit;">S</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">enate Select Committee on Intelligence,</span><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">and Democrat</span><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">,&nbsp;</span></span>Bob Kerrey, echoed this sentiment, among other criticisms. <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Republicans checked out early* when they determined that their counterparts started out with the premise that the CIA was guilty and then worked to prove it.</span></span></blockquote>*One point I would like to make is that the motivation that supposedly led the GOP to "check out" for me is still no excuse, they should have stuck it out.<br /><br />Another problem that this "investigation" suffers from is what was investigated. From the Bob Kerrey op-ed.<br /><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I have participated in two extensive investigations into intelligence failures,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/pdfs103rd/10390.pdf" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/pdfs103rd/10390.pdf">once</a>&nbsp;when&nbsp;<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/31/magazine/why-i-spied-aldrich-ames.html" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/31/magazine/why-i-spied-aldrich-ames.html">Aldrich Ames</a>&nbsp;was discovered to be spying for Russia after he had done substantial damage to our human intelligence collection capability and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_32/kerreyjoins.html" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_32/kerreyjoins.html">another</a>&nbsp;following the 9/11 attacks. In both cases we were very critical of the practices of the intelligence agencies. In both cases we avoided partisan pressure to blame the opposing party. In both cases Congress made&nbsp;<a href="http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/issues/9-11-commission" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/issues/9-11-commission">statutory changes</a>&nbsp;and the agencies changed their policies. It didn't make things perfect, but it did make them better.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In both of these efforts the committee staff examined documents and interviewed all of the individuals involved. The Senate's Intelligence Committee staff chose to interview no one. Their rationale - that some officers were under investigation and could not be made available – is not persuasive. Most officers were never under investigation and for those who were, the process&nbsp;<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/31/us/holder-rules-out-prosecutions-in-cia-interrogations.html?pagewanted=all&amp;_r=0" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/31/us/holder-rules-out-prosecutions-in-cia-interrogations.html?pagewanted=all&amp;_r=0">ended</a>&nbsp;by 2012.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Fairness should dictate that the examination of documents alone do not eliminate the need for interviews conducted by the investigators. Isolated emails, memos and transcripts can look much different when there is no context or perspective provided by those who sent, received or recorded them</b>.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>(Emphasis Mine.)</i></span></div><b>Timing of the Report's Release</b><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The essential ingredient of politics is timing.</i></span></span><br /><span style="line-height: 20px;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="line-height: 20px;"><i>~Pierre Trudeau, 15th Prime Minister of Canada</i></span><br /><span style="line-height: 20px;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="line-height: 20px;">There are many reasons that could be offered for the timing and release of this report. But rest assured, all of the reasons offered are purely political in nature.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span><span style="line-height: 20px;">One motivation for the Democrats which has gained traction in conservatives circles was that report was coincidentally&nbsp;<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/09/fox-news-torture-report-outnumbered-cia-obama_n_6296196.html">released as Jonathan Gruber was given his testimony</a> to the House&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Oversight Committee on the 10th. Mr. Gruber, in case you forgot, was the so-called architect of Obamacare who recently and on several&nbsp;</span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">occasions</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">&nbsp;called the American people, "stupid."&nbsp;</span></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><br />Another reason that could be considered is that in one month the Democrats are leaving their majority position in Congress. They know full well that propaganda piece would probably have not seen the light of day when the Republicans took over. So they do what Democrats do, <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/dianne-feinstein-and-her-decision-to-release-the-torture-report/">they shit all over everything before turning over the keys</a>.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202022; line-height: 22.100000381469727px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Timing, for Feinstein was a big factor. "I realize the Senate changes leadership in January, and so the likelihood of the report coming out next year was slim and none, so we had a limited opportunity after five and a half years of work to get this out," she said. She conceded that the safety situation abroad was "difficult," but, she continued, "It's going to remain difficult."</span></span></blockquote><br /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Furthermore there is the aspect of hypocrisy and the depth to which Feinstein and her ilk actually oppose the use of EIT's.</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">From William McGurn in the <a href="http://nypost.com/author/william-mcgurn/">New York Post</a>,&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: #fbfbfb; border: 0px; color: #2e2e2f; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">&nbsp;</span></span><span style="background-color: #fbfbfb; color: #2e2e2f; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you really wanted to ensure the CIA never tortures again, why didn’t you just outlaw waterboarding and other methods you call torture altogether — instead of leaving it to an executive order another president might reverse?</span></span><span style="background-color: transparent;">&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: transparent;">&nbsp;</span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: #fbfbfb; border: 0px; color: #2e2e2f; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The honest answer to this question speaks to contemporary congressional morality, and underscores how the loudest notes of moral outrage in the Beltway are so often sounded by its least serious people.</span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: #fbfbfb; border: 0px; color: #2e2e2f; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After all, back in 2009 the stars were all in alignment for putting a ban into law. The war in Iraq had been turned around by the surge; the CIA in fact hadn’t waterboarded anyone since 2004; and the need for harsh tactics, if ever they were necessary, seemed far behind us.</span></blockquote><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><br />Indeed...? Why not end it?<br /><br />Back in 2009 the Democrats had the political capital, the moral authority, and above all else the control of the executive branch and the legislative numbers to make this happen. Beyond burning down the building on the way out, this lends itself to the upcoming general election in 2016. Since the Democrats took such a drubbing in the mid-terms--getting completely decimated in the South--there base is <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/10/09/the-democrats-enthusiasm-problem-in-stark-relief/">disillusioned</a>, <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/12/democratic_party_s_losses_at_the_state_level_are_extraordinary_the_party.single.html">beaten down to the lowest level possible</a>,&nbsp;and the <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/179345/democratic-party-favorable-rating-falls-record-low.aspx">country is souring on their brand</a>. They need revival and they need it badly.<br /><br />From Ferguson, to Eric Gardner, and now a play from the old playbook that was near and dear to the political hearts of the Progressive faithful...EIT's. Nothing gins up the base like a Bush administration/Iraq war related controversy. &nbsp;The base gets motivated and therefore mobilized and the wheels will start to turn. But, how far the wheels will take them is another story altogether.<br /><br />You see the attitude that American's possess towards EIT's has changed quite a bit since the mid-2000's.<br /><br />From the &nbsp;<a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/12/09/americans-views-on-use-of-torture-in-fighting-terrorism-have-been-mixed/">Pew Research&nbsp;Center</a>,<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-weqxarboFA8/VIt_AaJ8NqI/AAAAAAAACOw/tzRgMB61Dl0/s1600/FT_14.12.9_torture2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-weqxarboFA8/VIt_AaJ8NqI/AAAAAAAACOw/tzRgMB61Dl0/s1600/FT_14.12.9_torture2.png" height="320" width="263" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Pew Research Center (<a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/12/09/americans-views-on-use-of-torture-in-fighting-terrorism-have-been-mixed/">Fact Tank</a>, Dec 2014)</i></td></tr></tbody></table>This may produce fire in the belly of the your local activist--or maybe just indigestion--but the average American is a little more pragmatic on the subject. So...parading the CIA report come election time and the Right will use it as a political wall that the Left's head will be smashed on.<br /><br /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PoliticsAndCriticalThinking/~4/hsTOG4H4Dfg" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Michael Elliothttps://plus.google.com/114968196882213881255noreply@blogger.com0http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2014/12/senates-cia-torture-report.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5752905450372366892.post-84743776282313042722014-12-08T18:00:00.001-06:002014-12-08T18:00:24.814-06:00LA based street-artist, Sabo, does the new cover for next month's Rolling Stone.<div>From Lena Dunham's dubious claim about being raped by the campus Republican, to the now specious Rolling Stone story reporting a young woman's alleged rape at a UVA frat, it's getting to the point where you will need a scorecard to know the real victims from the phonies. With all this agitprop flying around LA based street artist Sabo <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/street-artist-sabo-blasts-lena-754819">has done a little something to help the cause</a>.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rff2EdBtJC8/VIY6OspRm2I/AAAAAAAACOg/MKvXjBXQJgo/s1600/dunham_site1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rff2EdBtJC8/VIY6OspRm2I/AAAAAAAACOg/MKvXjBXQJgo/s1600/dunham_site1.jpg" height="320" width="236" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>More at the <a href="http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/driveby/advance_look_at_the_cover.php">American Digest</a> and <a href="http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/12/rolling-stones-rape-fantasies.php">Powerline</a>.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PoliticsAndCriticalThinking/~4/KaXfbye385c" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Michael Elliothttps://plus.google.com/114968196882213881255noreply@blogger.com0http://politicsandcriticalthinking.blogspot.com/2014/12/la-based-street-artist-sabo-does-new.html